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BX    9225    .M357    V3 

Van  Vechten,  Jacob,  1788- 

1871. 
Memoirs  of  John  M.  Mason,  D 

D. ,  S.  T.  P. 


^  ®  Kl .    I® .  !u ' 


MEMOIRS 


JOHN  M.  MASON,  D.D.,  S.T.P. 


WPTH 


PORTIONS  OF  HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


JACOB    VAN    VECHTEN. 


Ov  tdu)Kev  Tifiiv  6  Qeog  -nvevfia  deiXidg,  aXXa  dwafieu^ 
Kcu  dyaTTTjg  kui  G6i(f)povLanov.  2  tivl  l  7. 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS, 

J285    BRO  A  DWAY. 
1856. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  tlie  United  States,  for  the  Southern  District  ot 
New  York. 


EDWARD   0.    JENKINS, 

PRINTER  AND  STEREOTYPER, 

26  Frankfort  St.,  N.  Y. 


TO    THE 

REV.    JOHN    KNOX,     D.D., 

SENIOR  PASTOR  OF  THE  COLLEGIATE  DUTCH  CHURCH  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK, 

WITHOUT  WHOSE  PERSUASION 

THIS  WORK  WOULD   NOT  HAVE  BEEN  UNDERTAKEN, 

WITHOUT  WHOSE  AID  IT  COULD  NOT  HAVE  BEEN   ACCOMPLISHED, 

AND 

HARMONIZE  SO  BEAUTIFULLY  WITH  THE  CHARACTER  HERE  PRESENTED, 

®^ts«  ^agts  aw  afedionatjtlg  |itstrib«ir, 

BY  HIS 

FRIEND  AND  BROTHER, 

THE  COMPILEE. 


PREFACE. 

Release  from  a  pastoral  charge  is  the  circumstance, 
which,  more  than  any  other,  has  thrown  the  pre- 
paration of  these  memoirs  into  present  hands.  When 
first  invited  to  the  task,  the  compiler  shrunk  from 
it  for  many  reasons  ;  and  especially,  because  he  was 
not  aware  of  the  amount  of  materials,  which,  with 
some  pains,  might  be  collected.  He  is  now  happy 
to  say,  that  enough  has  been  found  to  construct  a 
much  more  voluminous  work  than  was  anticipated. 
Almost  every  step  of  inquiry  increased  both  the  bulk 
and  the  value  of  our  discoveries.  This  gave  rise  to  another 
difficulty — that  of  making  a  judicious  selection.  Our  ob- 
ject has  been  brevity.  Adherence  to  this  principle  has 
sometimes  compelled  us  to  relinquish  topics  which  we 
would  gladly  have  pursued  much  further.  Such  a  plan 
will,  perhaps,  not  be  forgiven  by  those  persons  who  could 
not  be  satisfied  without  the  fullest  detail ;  but  we  felt  a 
greater  dread  of  an  opposite  class.  It  will,  however,  we 
trust,  be  a  satisfaction  to  all,  that  inmost  cases,  the  subject 
has  been  left  to  speak  for  himself,  so  as  to  preclude  every 


VI  PREFACE. 

suspicion  of  being  seen  through  a  colouring  medium.  We 
are  deceived,  if,  upon  the  nearer  view  here  given,  many 
readers  do  not  find  some  traits  of  character  which  they 
may  not  have  seen  at  a  distance,  and  which  will  not  di- 
minish either  their  admiration  or  esteem.  Very  con- 
scious that  the  portrait  has  not  received  all  those  fine  and 
finishing  touches  of  which  it  is  susceptible,  and  that  it 
has  not  been  hung  in  the  best  frame,  or  in  the  best 
light ;  we  yet  feel  quite  contented,  if  we  have  enabled 
practised  eyes  properly  to  distinguish  between  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  original  and  the  imperfect  production  of 
the  artist. 

As  might  be  expected,  Dr.  Mason's  correspondence 
generally  sprung  out  of  passing  events,  or  out  of  the 
feelings  awakened  by  such  events ;  and  was  often  inter- 
woven with  public  transactions  in  which  he  himself  took 
a  part.  There  could  be  but  little  hesitation,  therefore, 
in  adopting  the  chronological  order  of  arrangement.  A 
portion  of  it  might  have  admitted,  or  even  demanded, 
a  difFcrcnt  course ;  but  the  above  consideration  was 
thought  of  sufficient  weight  to  control  the  whole.  It  is 
also  proper  to  state,  that  some  of  the  letters  have 
been  abridged,,  and  that  the  signature  has  often  been 
omitted. 

Many  anecdotes  which  arc  afloat  in  the  community, 
we  have  not  felt  warranted  to  insert.  Though  a  mind 
so  active,  and  a  wit  so  ready,  as  Dr.  Mason's,  cannot 
have  failed  to  utter  a  thousand  memorable  things,  yet, 
as  they  were  not  recorded  at  the  time,  they  have  now 


PREFACE. 


VU 


become  too  vague  and  uncertain  for  our  purpose.  The 
few  which  are  mentioned  in  these  pages,  are  derived 
from  direct  sources,  and  come  well  authenticated. 

We  add  but  this  remark,  that  it  has  not  been  thought 
necessary  to  review  any  part  of  his  published  works. 
These,  though  they  exhibit  but  a  small  portion  of  his 
labours,  invite  the  closest  scrutiny  ;  and  after  that,  we 
are  contented  to  have  them  pass  at  such  a  valuation  as 
the  public  shall  adjudge.  It  is  as  easy  to  magnify  as 
to  disparage  them.  We  think,  however,  that  most  of 
them,  and  especially  "Letters  on  Frequent  Commu- 
nion," "  A  Plea  for  Sacramental  Communion  on  Catholic 
Principles,"  "Essays  on  the  Church,"  and  "Essays  on 
Episcopacy,"  accomplished  the  main  objects  which  he 
had  in  view.  It  is  much  easier  to  claim  victories  over 
him,  than  to  answer  his  arguments.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten,  that  when  we  unchurch  every  Christian  so- 
ciety but  our  own,  we  take  very  high  ground,  and  can- 
not escape  notice.  We  hope,  however,  that  such  pre- 
tensions are  urged  with  less  frequency  and  less  confidence 
in  the  present  day  than  formerly. 

J.  V.  V. 

Albany,  February  27,  1856. 


CONTENTS 


Chapters.      Dates.  Subjects.                                               Page 

I. — 1759-1792.  Biographical  Sketch  op  his  Father,  ...      1 

II. —1770-1789.     Early  Education 12 

111.-1789-1791.  Studies  Theology  with  HIS  Father,    .        .        .     20 

IV. —1791-1892.     Studies  at  Edinburgh, 29 

V.  — 1792-1801.  Settlement  AND  Early  Ministry,          .        .        .54 

VI.  — 1793-1801.     Success  in  his  Labours 66 

VII.  — 1801.  Call  for  Ministers, 75 

Vin.  — 1801.  Mission  to  Scotland, 82 

IX.— 1802.  Results,        ........     97 

X  — 1802.  Visits  London, 107 

XI.  — 1802.  Proceedings  on  his  Eeturn,         ....  118 

XII.  — 1803-4.  Foreign  Correspondence, 129 

XIII. — 1803-4.  Home  Correspondence, 164 

XrV.  — 1804.  The  Seminary, .171 

XV.  — 1804.  The  Death  of  Hamilton 182 

XVI,  — 1804.  Correspondence, 192 

XVII.  — 1805.  The  Cause  of  Education  and  Missions,        .        .  213 

XVIIL— 1805.  The  Seminary, 224 

XIX.  — 1805.  Classical  Education, 239 

XX.  — 1806.  Correspondence, 250 

XXI.  — 1806.  The  Seminary, 270 

XXn.  — 1807.  Magazine  and  Letters, 284 

XXIII.  — 1807.  Missionaries  from  London,    .         .         .        .        .  290 

XXIV.  — 1808.  Congregational   Libraries.       Journey    through 

New  England, 308 

XXV. — 1809.  Vindication.    The  Magazine.     Assistant,               327 

XXVI.  — 1810.  CoLUMBLY  College, 339 


X  CONTENTS. 

Chapters.     DaU».  Suhjectt.                                         Page 

XXVII.  — 1810.  Resignation  of  his  Pastoral  Charge,  .               341 

XXVIII. —  1810-1811.  Psalmody.     Com.  Distress.    Chinese  Mission,     .366 

XXIX.  — 1811-1812.     Intercommunion, 382 

XXX.  — 1813.  Care  for  Friends.     Western  Churches,               393 

XXXI. — 1814.  A  Challenge.     Columbia  College,  etc.,    .        .  400 

XXXII. —1814-1815.  General  Stnod.    Letters,       .                .        .      412 

XXXni.  — 1816.  Preparation  for  a  Voyage,      ....  418 

XXXrV.  — 1816.  In  England,  Scotland,  and  Paris,          .        .      435 

XXXV. —1816-1817.  On  THE  Continent,      ...,-.  444 

XXXVI.  — 1817.  In    England, 461 

XXXVII.  — 1818.  Mission  to  the  Western  Churches,    .        .        .  475 

XXXVIII. —8119.  Western  Chdrches.     The  Seminary.     Letters,  487 

XXXIX. —1820-1829.  Evening  of  his  Days,                                  .        .510 

XL.  Conclusion 524 

APPENDIX. 

Appendix  A 547 

Appendix  B 555 


M  E  M  0  I  K  S 


OF 


JOHN^     M.     M^J^&ON 


CHAPTEK   I. 

17§9— 1792. 

BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF   HIS  FATHER. 

Mission  to  America — First  interview  with  his  people — Church  Edifice — The  war — 
Formation  of  the  Associate  Keformed  Church — Defence  of  it — Theological 
Dissertations — Attempted  union  with  the  Presbyterian  and  Dutch  Churches — 
Several  writings — Death  and  Character — Twice  Married — Children  and  Des- 
cendants. 

John  Mason,  the  father  of  John  M.  Mason,  emigrated  to 
this  country  from  Scotland  while  a  young  man,  in  the  year 
1761.  He  came  in  consequence  of  repeated  and  earnest  appli- 
cations made  to  the  ecclesiastical  body  with  which  he  was 
connected.  About  seven  or  eight  years  before  this  time,  some 
of  the  ministers  and  people,  who  had  previously  come  over  to 
America  and  were  attached  to  that  branch  of  the  Caledonian 
Church  which  is  commonly  called  the  Secession,  had  formed 
themselves  into  an  organization  known  at  the  time  as  "  The 
Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania,"  subordinate  to  the 
Associate  Synod  of  Scotland.  Many  letters  and  petitions  were 
sent  from  this  body,  and  from  the  Associate  Congregation  of 
New-York,  to  the  mother  country  for  a  supply  of  ministers. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  held  at  Edinburgh,  October  11, 
1759,  several  such  applications  were  presented,  designating 
"  Mr.  John  Mason,  Teacher  of  Philosophy  at  Abernethy,"  in  a 
seminary  of  learning  and  theology,  as  the  first  object  of  their 
choice,  and  promising  him  due  encouragement  in  his  work. 
After  mature  deliberation  and  special  prayer,  the  desired  ap- 
pointment was  made.  With  a  view  to  this  mission,  on  the  5th 
of  August,  1760,  Mr.  Mason  was  solemnly  set  apart  to  the 
sacred  office  at  the  city  of  Perth,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Perth 
and  Dunfernline.  The  minutes  of  the  transaction  inform  us, 
1 


2  RECEPTION— SUCCESS. 

that  "  the  ordination  sermon  was  preached  bj  Mr.  Alexander 
Preston,"  from  a  text,  which,  considering  the  light  in  which 
America  was  at  this  period  regarded,  must  have  been  deemed 
peculiarly  appropriate  :  viz.  Luke  xxii.  35.  "When  I  sent  you 
without  purse  and  scrip  and  shoes,  lacked  ye  anything?  and 
they  said,  nothing." 

For  some  adequate  reason,  Mr,  Mason  did  not  sail  till  the 
Spring  following,  when  he  was  accompanied  by  two  other 
missionaries — Mr.  Robert  Annan  and  Mr.  John  Smart.  The 
latter  of  these  gentlemen,  after  a  few  years,  returned  home. 
The  former  continued  to  labour  as  an  able  minister  of  the 
New  Testament,  at  Wallkill,  N.  Y.,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  and  other  places,  till  the  close  of  a  long  life  in  1820. 

When  Mr.  Mason  arrived  at  New  York,  the  people  who  had 
sent  for  him,  tradition  informs  us,  met  together  for  his  recep- 
tion. A  small  parlour  was  sufficient  to  contain  them.  Per- 
ceiving so  few  assembled,  and  those  apparently  in  humble  and 
limited  circumstances,  he  felt  constrained  to  ask  whether  they 
could  not  muster  any  more ;  and  whether  they  were  able  to 
support  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  among  them  ?  After  a 
pause,  a  pious  old  lady  answered,  "  We  will  try."  "  Upon 
this,  they  all  took  courage,  and  soon  commenced  operations. 
The  formal  call  was  dated  25th  May,  1762,  and  signed  by 
Samuel  Loudon.  Alexander  Robertson,  Jonathan  Blake,  Henry 
Spaingcr,  James  Wilson,  George  Watson,  Gilbert  Smith,  John 
McDonald,  and  about  thirty  others,  some  of  them  females,  and 
several  of  them  making  their  marks  instead  of  writing  their 
names.  Dr.  Miller,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Rogers,"  says, 
they  had  seceded  from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  because 
"  incurably  dissatisfied  with  the  system  of  Psalmody,  which  the 
majority  had  chosen  to  adopt." 

Such  was  their  feeble  and  not  flattering  beginning.  But 
they  "  despised  not  the  day  of  small  things."  They  grew  and 
prospered.  Their  first  house  of  worship  was  a  small  frame 
building,  erected  on  the  south  side  of  Cedar  street,  between 
Na.ssau  street  and  Broadway.  In  1768  this  gave  place  to  a 
more  commodious  stone  edifice  erected  on  the  same  site,  which 
stood  till  the  year  1837,  when,  in  order  to  overtake  the  popula- 
tion, it  became  necessary,  in  the  current  phrase,  "  to  move  up 


THE   WAR.  3 

town,"  and  erect  another  in  Grand  street.  That  which  in  1837 
was  "up  town,"  had  in  1853,  again  become  "down  town,"  so 
as  to  require  another  removal.  At  that  date,  the  large  and 
flourishing  congregation,  under  the  care  of  their  fourth  pastor, 
the  Eev.  Joseph  McElroy,  D.D.,  erected  a  new  edifice  in  Four- 
teenth street,  which  they  have  since  continued  to  occupy. 

Mr.  Mason  labored  successfully  in  his  congregation  till  the 
outbreaking  of  the  revolutionary  war,  when,  being  a  strong 
Whig,  and  espousing  the  cause  of  the  Colonies  with  zeal,  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  city  ;  and  of  course  his  flock,  like  all 
others  of  the  same  political  opinions,  became  scattered  for  a 
period  of  eight  years.  He  entered  the  army  as  chaplain,  and 
continued  in  this  capacity  till  the  return  of  peace.  On  one 
occasion,  it  is  said,  he  insisted  upon  serving  likewise  as  a 
soldier,  and  would  not  quit  the  ranks  till  peremptorily  ordered 
away  by  the  officer  of  his  regiment.  Col.  Malcolm,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  a  member  of  his  church.  In  a  letter  to  the  Rev. 
John  Brown,  of  Haddington,  dated  January,  1786,  he  patheti- 
cally laments  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  war  upon  the 
churches,  and  the  interests  of  religion. 

The  Revolution  however,  had  the  good  effect  of  convincing 
many  Christians  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  that  our  churches 
had  the  same  resource  as  those  abroad,  and  that,  as  much  as 
our  States,  they  might,  with  propriety  and  even  advantage, 
become  independent  of  foreign  jurisdiction.  This  led,  in  the 
year  1782,  to  the  union  of  various  classes  of  Scottish  Seceders 
and  Covenanters,  in  a  society  still  known  as  the  "  Associate 
Reformed  Church  in  North  America."* 

A  union  so  obviously  called  for  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  and  so  fraught  with  the  most  beneficial  results,  was  from 
its  commencement  warmlj'  espoused  by  Mr,  Mason.  Indeed  he 
had  for  several  years  before  been  a  decided  advocate  of  meas- 
ures which  had  this  .tendency.  He  had  characterized  the  dis- 
pute between  the  two  branches  of  the  Secession  as  "  the  dry, 
the  fruitless,  the  disgracing,  the  pernicious  controversy  about 
the  burgess-oath."  He  had  moreover,  said  :  "  This  controversy 
has  done  infinite  injury  to  the  cause  of  God  in  Scotland,  and 
wherever  it  has  shed  its  influences.  For  my  own  part,  I  can- 
'  McKerrow's  History  of  the  Secession  Church,  vol.  ii.,  p.  293.     Xote. 


4  ASSOCIATED   REFORM   CHURCH. 

not  reflect  upon  it  without  shame  and  perplexity.  Though  we 
differ  only  about  the  meaning  of  some  burgess-oaths  and  some 
acts  of  Parliament,  our  mutual  opposition  has  been  as  fierce  as 
probably  it  would  have  been,  had  we  differed  about  the  most 
important  points  of  Christianity."* 

The  new  organization,  however,  and  the  policy  which  led  to 
it,  were  as  warmly  opposed  by  others,  who  perpetuated  the 
division  with  its  attendant  evils, — so  that  to  this  day,  for  rea- 
sons the  most  unintelligible  or  trifling,  we  still  have  Burghers, 
Anti-burghers,  and  Cameronians,  sprinkled  here  and  there 
through  our  widely  extended  country,  often  contending  as 
earnestly  against  each  other,  as  against  the  common  foe ;  in- 
stead of  one  large,  united,  and  efl&cient  body  of  sound  and 
useful  Christians.  The  friends  and  advocates  of  the  liberal 
policy  were  maligned  as  latitudinarians,  who  were  unfaithful  to 
their  vows  and  to  those  principles  of  the  Eeformation  for  which 
their  ancestors  had  suffered  the  pains  of  martyrdom.  Such  re- 
presentations reached  the  mother  country,  and  one  of  their 
effects  was  a  motion,  by  a  person  no  less  distinguished  than  the 
Rev.  Adam  Gib,  of  Edinburgh,  that  "  the  Synod  should  erase 
Mr.  Mason's  name  from  their  roll,  and  no  longer  acknowledge 
him  to  be  one  of  their  number,  till  they  should  have  opportu- 
nity of  bringing  his  case  to  a  proper  trial ;  and  that  an  injunc- 
tion should  be  sent  to  the  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania  to  lay 
him  aside  from  a  seat  among  them,  until  they  should  receive 
satisfaction  for  his  conduct."  After  some  delay  this  motion  was, 
in  1780,  adopted  by  the  Synod. f  In  addition  to  this,  a  letter 
of  solemn  rebuke  was  written  to  all  those  brethren  and  churches 
that  had  come  into  the  union.  These  transactions  led  to  a 
masterly  defence  of  the  union,  sent  by  Mr.  Mason,  under  direc- 
tion of  his  Synod,  to  the  Anti-burgher  Synod  of  Scotland. 
This  paper  must  have  been  written  about  the  year  1784,  and 
was  addressed  immediately  to  Rev.  William  Moncrief,  at  that 
time  their  Professor  of  Divinity. 

It  is  such  a  noble  monument  of  the  times  ;  it  embodies  such 
vital  principles  of  ecclesiastical  policy^  applicable  to  every  age ; 
often  violated,  and  not  always  kept  strictly  in  view  by  Asso- 

'^  McKerrow's  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  407. 
t  McKerrow's  History  vol.  i.,  p.  408. 


LETTER  TO  JOHN   BROWN.  5 

ciate  Reformed  churches  themselves ;  and  it  moreover  breathes 
such  an  excellent  spirit  of  sound  Christianity,  as  richly  to 
deserve  preservation  in  a  volume  like  the  present.  Though  too 
long  to  be  incorporated  with  our  narrative,  it  will  be  given  in 
an  appendix. 

In  this  connexion  it  likewise  seems  fitting  to  insert  a  letter, 
which,  with  a  copy  of  the  newly  adopted  "Constitution  of  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church,"  was  sent  to  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Shanks,   Moderator  of  the   Associate  Synod  [Anti-burgher], 

Scotland : — 

New  York,  Sept.  27,  1784. 

Rev.  and  dear  Sir  :  By  order  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synod  I  send  you  a  copy  of  their  Constitution.  It  was  un- 
fortunately published  Avithout  those  formalities  which  are 
esteemed  necessary  to  authenticate  Public  Instruments.  This 
was  owing  to  an  accident  which  I  need  not  mention  to  you. 

I  intended  to  have  written  a  long  letter  to  you  by  this  con- 
veyance, but  as  I  am  just  emerging  from  a  weakness,  under 
which  I  languished  for  several  months,  and  am  much  fatigued 
with  public  service,  I  can  do  little  more,  at  present,  than  assure 
you,  in  the  name  of  the  Synod,  that  we  have  a  sincere  regard 
for  the  brethren  of  your  denomination,  and  wish  to  cultivate  a 
friendly  correspondence  with  them. 

It  will,  I  presume,  be  evident  to  every  person  who  im- 
partially attends  to  our  Constitutional  Articles,  in  their  con- 
nexion, that  we  resolve  to  adhere  to  the  Presbyterian  system, 
as  exhibited  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  &c. ;  though  we.  have 
detached  it  from  those  local  appendages  which  have  not  any 
relation  to  this  country. 

May  the  blessing  of  God  rest  on  your  Synod,  and  may 
vital  piety  prosper  and  triumph  in  all  the  congregations  under 
their  inspection.     I  am,  Rev.  and  dear  Sir, 

Your  affectionate  brother  and  humble  servant, 

JOHN  MASON. 

We  subjoin  also  part  of  a  letter  to  his  sister  in  Scotland, 
dated  September  16,  1784: — 

"Daring  the  greatest  part  of  the  war  I  was  chaplain  to  the 
principal  garrison  of  the  Americans  at  West  Point,  on  the 
Hudson  River,  &c. 


6  DEFENCE   OF  ASSOCIATE  REFORMED   CHURCH. 

"I  perceive  that  you  have  been  greatly  imposed  upon  by  the 
wicked  report  of  my  apostacy  from  the  truth.  My  brethren 
and  I  have  indeed  withdrawn  our  subordination  from  the 
Synod  ;  but  we  have  not  done  this  on  principles  of  apostacy,  but 
of  necessity.  The  circumstances  of  the  church  in  this  country 
are  so  different  from  your  circumstances  in  Scotland,  that  the 
truth  cannot  be  applied  here  precisely  in  the  same  way  as  at 
home ;  nor  can  terms  of  communion  be  stated  in  the  same 
manner.  As  we  found  we  could  not  manage  the  Presbyterian 
cause  with  any  propriety  in  connexion  with  the  Synod,  who 
would  have  everything  done  in  their  own  way — though  they 
are  incompetent  to  judge  of  our  circumstances — we  were  obliged 
to  break  our  connexions;  retaining  at  the  same  time  a  sincere 
regard  for  the  Synod,  and  for  the  cause  of  truth  which  they 
have  espoused." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Associate  Eeformed  Synod,  held  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  May  16,  1787,  the  Eev.  Dr.  John  Mason 
(the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  having  been  pre- 
viously conferred  upon  him),  with  the  Rev.  Robert  Annan  and 
the  Rev.  John  Smith,  were  appointed  "  to  prepare  and  publish 
a  draught  of  an  overture  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  and 
defending  the  doctrines  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  adopted  by 
their  Church."  The  trust  reposed  in  them  was  executed  by 
this  Committee  with  marked  ability,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
year  resulted  in  the  publication  of  an  excellent  series  of  disser- 
tations on  the  leading  doctrines  of  divine  revelation,  as  exhibited 
in  that  Confession.  In  an  introduction  to  this  publication,  the 
Committee  say:  "We  heartily  espouse  the  Testimony  of  the 
Scotch  Secession,  as  to  its  spirit  and  substance  ;  but  we  lament 
the  mismanagement  of  the  good  cause,  especially  by  schism  and 
division  among  themselves,  than  which  nothing  contributed 
more  to  harden  the  leaders  of  the  defection  in  their  tyrannical 
courses.  At  the  same  time  we  do  not  wish  to  perplex  the 
church  here  with  merely  local  controversies,  such  as  that  about 
the  lawfulness  of  swearing  a  religious  clause  in  a  certain  bur- 
gess-oath, which  has  no  place  anywhere  on  earth,  but  in  a  few 
cities  of  Scotland,  and  can  certainly  affect  no  person's  conscience 
here;  or  that  about  the  lawfulness  of  submission  to  the  civil 
power  in  Britain,  while  we  all  readily  acknowledge  and  submit 


FURTHER   UNION   ATTEMPTED.  7 

to  the  civil  authority  in  the  United  States."  The  Associate 
Reformed  Church  was,  however,  never  recognized  by  any  judi- 
catory in  Scotland  till  long  afterwards,  as  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  notice  in  another  place. 

Previous  to  this — even  as  early  as  1770  and  1771 — attempts 
had  been  made  to  form  a  union  with  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  (now  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church)-  but,  for  reasons  which  can  be  explained  on 
principles  of  prejudice  and  ambition  more  easily  than  on  those 
of  wisdom  or  Christian  charity,  they  all  failed.  Brethren  of 
the  same  family,  were  still  doomed  to  appear  before  the  world 
under  the  unseemly  and  weakened  aspect  of  a  "  house  divided 
against  itself."  No  division  or  discord  of  the  times  however, 
is  chargeable  upon  old  Dr.  Mason. 

Friendly  conferences  between  delegates  from  these  bodies 
were  also  held  in  the  years  1785  and  1787;  but  resulted  only 
in  expressions  of  mutual  regard  and  confidence;  in  a  better 
acquaintance  with  each  other ;  and  a  more  agreeable  intercourse. 

In  a  convention  held  at  New  York,  October,  1788,  and  corn- 
posed  of  delegates  from  several  religious  denominations,  we 
again  find  Dr.  Mason  deliberating  for  the  promotion  of  a  com- 
mon Christianity  with  such  men  as  Drs.  Witherspoon  and 
Smith,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  Drs.  Hardenburgh, 
Romeyn,  Linn,  and  Frnsligh,  of  the  Dutch  Church.  But  it 
would  seem,  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  a  step  so  de- 
sirable as  an  ecclesiastical  union  between  bodies  so  nearly 
united  in  doctrine,  government,  and  spirit.  Whoever,  from 
time  to  time,  may  have  originated  the  various  measures  for  this 
object,  Dr.  Mason  was  always  their  decided  and  undeviating . 
advocate. 

We  cannot  be  surprised  therefore,  that  he  lived  on  terms  of 
intimacy  with  ministerial  brethren  of  different  denominations; 
especially  with  Drs,  Laidlie,  Livingston,  and  Rodgers.  Inter- 
esting notices  to  this  effect  may  be  seen  in  the  Biographies  of 
Dr.  Rodgers,  Dr.  Livingston,  and  Mrs.  Graham. 

Besides  the  part  which  he  took  in  preparing  the  dissertations 
referred  to  above,  he  left  in  manuscript  his  strong  objections  to 
the  monarchical  principle  of  church  government  as  embodied 
in  both  the  English  and  the  Papal  Hierarchy. 


8  NEW  JERSEY  CONSTITUTION. 

He  also  prepared  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  New  Jer- 
sey (in  which  State  his  family  resided  during  the  war),  pointing 
out  at  large  the  superstitious  nature  of  oaths  administered  by 
the  ceremony  of  kissing  the  Gospels,  and  praying  in  behalf  of 
tender  consciences  for  exemption  from  that  mode  of  swearing. 

Having  considerable  intercourse  with  the  Governor,  he  like- 
wise expostulated  with  him  earnestly  on  the  propriety  of  incor- 
porating with  the  organic  law  of  the  State  a  distinct  recogni- 
tion of  the  Christian  as  the  true  religion,  as  the  basis  of  good 
morals  and  as  eminently  calculated  to  promote  the  best  ends 
and  interests  of  civil  government,  if  not  absolutely  essential  to 
the  stability  of  Republican  institutions.  Such  a  general  recog- 
nition he  thought  would  not  in  the  least  degree  infringe  upon 
the  rights  of  conscience;  Avhich  rights  he  always  most  strenu- 
ously advocated.  He  thought,  that  even  liberty  itself  could 
not  be  permanently  secured  without  subjection  to  that  great 
and  good  Being  "  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom."  An  ad- 
mirable letter  on  this  subject  to  his  Excellency,  dated  Bed- 
minster,  K  J.,  June  1st,  1778,  is  found  among  his  papers. 

The  following  testimony  we  have  from  one  of  his  early 
students,  Mr.  John  Young  (author  of  a  treatise  on  the  French 
Eevolution,  which  ranked  among  the  ablest  on  that  fruitful 
subject,  and  for  which  he  was  offered  a  pension  by  the  king), 
dated  Hawick,  25tli  November,  1801  :— 

"  In  the  year  1756,  the  Synod  appointed  Mr.  Mason  their 
Professor  of  Philosophy  at  Abernethy.  In  that  office  he  con- 
tinued four  years;  consequently  he  taught  two  classes,  to  the 
last  of  which  I  belonged.  The  first  year  he  taught  us  Logic,  a 
system  of  which  he  himself  had  compiled.  He  then  gave  us 
prelections  on  De  Vries'  Ontology  and  Pneumatology.  The 
second  year  he  gave  us  a  sketch  of  Mathematics,  with  Moral 
and  Natural  Philosophy.  His  Compendium  Logicite,  I  believe 
is  the  best  extant.  He  always  delivered  his  prelections  in 
Latin,  which  language  he  spake  with  a  fluency  and  propriety 
which  I  never  knew  equalled.  We  always  met  twice  a  day. 
He  began  with  examining  us  on  his  last  prelection,  and  then 
delivered  another,  generally  of  an  hour's  length;  so  that  he  lec- 
tured two  hours  every  day,  unless  when  some  of  the  students 
had  an  exegesis  or  something  of  that  kind  to  deliver.     Wc 


DEATH   AND   CHARACTER.  9 

also  met  once  a  week  for  prayer  and  religious  conversation,  in 
which  he  excelled." 

His  character  has  also  been  ably  drawn  by  Dr.  S.  Miller,  of 
Princeton,  in  his  "  Life  of  Dr.  Eogers  :" — 

"  Dr.  Mason  was  a  man  of  a  sound  and  strong  mind,  of  ex- 
tensive learning,  and  of  unusually  fervent  piety.  His  scholar- 
ship was  rare.  At  the  age  of  24  he  taught  Logic  and  Moral 
Philosof)hy,  with  reputation,  in  the  Theological  Seminary  of 
the  Anti-burghers,  at  Abernethy.  His  lectures  were  in  Latin. 
As  a  preacher,  he  was  uncommonly  judicious  and  instructive  ; 
as  a  pastor,  singularly  faithful  and  diligent ;  as  a  friend  and 
companion,  he  displayed  an  assemblage  of  excellencies  rarely 
found  in  so  great  a  degree  in  one  person.  Few  ministers  have 
ever  lived  in  New  York,  in  so  high  esteem,  or  died  so  gener- 
ally and  deeply  lamented."  {Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  John  Rogers^ 
D.D.,  p.  168.) 

Mrs.  Isabella  Graham,  who  was  present  at  his  death-bed, 
remarks  in  a  letter  dated,  April  23,  1792 :  "  My  dear  minis- 
ter's bitter  draught  is  over.  On  Thursday  the  19th  of  this 
month,  the  Lord  received  his  spirit,  and  laid  his  weary  flesh  to 
rest.  Like  his  Master,  he  groaned,  but  never  complained.  He 
had  a  draught  of  his  Master's  cup,  but  the  bitter  ingredient — 
desertion — made  no  part  of  it.  I  had  the  honour  to  close  his 
dear  eyes,  and  to  shut  those  dear  lips,  from  whence  so  many 
precious  truths  have  proceeded,  and  to  mix  with  the  ministering 
spirits  who  attended  to  hail  the  released."* 

Mrs.  Bethune,  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Graham  touches  some  other 
particulars : — 

"  To  Dr.  Mason's  character,  I  cannot  do  justice.  But  though 
more  than  a  half  a  century  has  elapsed,  I  have  still  a  vivid 
recollection  of  his  personal  appearance  and  manner.  He  was 
of  middle  stature,  not  corpulent,  black  hair,  and  mild  but  pene- 
trating black  eye;  of  great  decision,  staid  deportment  and  gen- 
tlemanly manners;  very  strict  in  family  discipline,  and  given 
to  hospitality.  His  sermons  were  well  studied,  his  delivery 
plain  and  energetic,  all  with  a  view  to  the  glory  of  his  Master 
and  the  salvation  of  souls. 

"If  anecdotes  were  admissible  the  following  one  might  tend 

*  Life  of  Mrs.  Graham,  cli.  IV. 


10  FIRST  MARRIAGE. 

to  illustrate  his  soundness  of  judgment.  Mr.  Clark,  a  good  but 
very  eccentric  minister  from  Ireland  travelled  as  a  missionary 
through  the  United  States  and  occasionally  preached  for  Dr. 
Mason.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  being  much  annoyed  by 
certain  high  head-dresses  which  he  saw  worn  by  some  of  the 
congregation,  he  did  not  spare  them  in  his  discourse.  'My  dear 
Sir,'  the  Doctor  replied  to  him  afterwards,  'my  business  is  more 
with  the  hearts  of  my  hearers  than  with  their  head-dresses.  If 
I  can  bring  them  in  humble  contrition  at  the  Saviour's  feet,  I 
have  no  further  trouble.  But  suppose,  brother  Clark,  that 
some  poor  sinner  smitten  in  conscience  by  your  rebukes  should 
call  upon  3'OU  to  morrow  morning  and  anxiously  inquire  what 
pattern  of  head-dress  she  might  wear,  are  you  prepared  to  des- 
cribe the  exact  style  of  millinery  which  you  would  recommend?' 
Brother  Clark  was  silent." 

He  was  twice  married ;  in  both  instances  happily,  and  in  both 
became  connected  with  respectable  Dutch  families  in  New 
York. 

His  first  consort  was  Catharine  Van  Wj^ck,  a  woman  of  solid 
understanding  and  of  solid  piety.  She  united  all  her  influence 
with  that  of  her  husband  in  ordering  their  household  in  the 
manner  best  calculated  to  promote  their  well-being  in  both  the 
present  and  the  future  life.  In  written  reminiscences,  her 
grand-daughter,  Mrs.  Knox,  remarks:  "I  have  heard  her 
spoken  of  by  her  sisters  with  the  deepest  reverence  and  affec- 
tion. Her  heartfelt  and  intelligent  piet}'  was  unquestioned.  I 
have  heard  it  said,  that  it  was  her  custom  to  slip  out  of  church 
immediately  after  morning  service,  and  assemble  her  family  for 
worship,  conducting  the  exercises  herself,  as  grandfather  Mason 
always  went  from  the  pulpit  to  his  study,  and  remained  there 
till  church  time  in  the  afternoon,  never  eating  after  breakfast 
till  his  public  duties  were  finished  for  the  day."  She  died 
June  31,  1784. 

She  bore  him  nine  children,  of  whom  only  three  lived  to 
maturity.  The  oldest  of  these,  named  Helen,  became  the  wife 
of  Matthew  Duncan,  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  mother 
of  the  ch)quent  John  M.  Duncan,  D.D.,  pastor,  for  many  years, 
of  the  Associate  Iveformcd  Church  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
The  savour  of  her  mcm.ory  in  the  family  is  sweet.     The  second 


SECOND   MARRIAGE.  11 

was  tlie  subject  of  these  memoirs.  The  youngest  was  Mar- 
garetta,  whose  native  powers  of  mind,  superior  cultivation  and 
elegant  accomplishments,  qualified  her  to  shine  in  any  sphere. 
She  was  married  to  the  Honourable  John  Brown,  one  of  the 
first  Senators  in  Congress  from  Kentucky ;  to  which  State  she 
removed  with  him,  and  settled  at  Frankfort,  where  their  two 
sons,  Mason  and  Orlando,  still  reside,  and  occupy  a  high  posi- 
tion in  society. 

His  second  marriage  was  with  Sarah  Yan  Alstyne,  an  ami- 
able and  pious  woman,  who  survived  him  many  years.  She  had 
no  children  of  her  own,  but  was  much  attached  to  those  of  her 
husband,  and  was  in  turn  greatly  beloved  and  honoured  by 
them. 


CHAPTER    II. 

1770—1789. 

HIS    EDUCATION. 

Early  Impressions — Profession  of  Religion — An  Incident — A  Fragment — Intel- 
lectual Culture — iVt  College — Compositions. 

John  Mitchel  Mason  was  born  in  city  of  New-York,  on 
the  19tli  day  of  March,  1770.  Having  in  infancy  been  conse- 
crated to  God  by  parents  who  justly  estimated  his  higher 
relations,  and  who  carefully  trained  him  for  the  great  end  of 
his  existence  and  his  redemption,  he  early  became  a  subject  of 
such  religious  convictions  as  are  usually  connected  with  true 
Christian  character.  He  felt  the  weight  of  his  guilt  before 
God,  his  need  of  a  Saviour,  and  an  ineffable  satisfaction  in  the 
excellence  and  fulness  of  that  Divine  Saviour  who  is  made 
known  to  us  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 
At  nine  years  of  age,  he  sometimes  passed  several  hours  in  the 
day  in  the  garret  of  his  father's  house  with  Ralph  Erskine's 
sermon,  entitled  'Faith's  Plea  upon  God's  Word,'  reading 
and  praying,  and  weeping  by  turns.  Whether  he  was  enabled 
at  this  time  to  take  that  great  and  decisive  step  by  which  a 
fallen  creature  passes  into  a  new  spiritual  condition,  we  know 
not.  It  is  probable  that  his  judicious  and  discriminating 
parents,  did  not  so  early  discover  those  strong  evidences  on 
which  they  afterwards  relied.  At  least  a  few  years  later,  while 
he  was  attending  school  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  his  mother  in  an 
affectionate  letter,  dated  July  26th,  1783,  exhorts  her  "  dear 
Johnny  to  show  his  gratitude  to  God  for  the  blessing  of  health, 
by  improving  it  to  his  glory  ;"  and  then  adds  :  "The  time  of 
health  and  youth  is  the  most  proper  season  for  seeking  God, 
for  securing  your  salvation  by  flying  to  Jesus  Christ,  receiving 


PROFESSION  OF  RELIGION.  13 

him  by  a  true  faith  as  he  is  offered  in  the  gospel ;  beg  that  you 
may  be  helped  to  this,  which,  if  you  are  enabled  to  do,  your 
soul  will  be  safe  and  you  need  not  fear." 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  was  received  into  his  father's 
church  as  a  member  in  full  communion.  An  occasion  soon 
occurred  which  must  have  tried  the  strength  of  his  principles 
on  a  point  which  older  professors  often  think  it  prudent  to 
yield  to  the  feelings  of  an  irreligious  world.  Nor  did  he  by 
his  resolution,  as  is  often  done  on  such  occasions,  lower  the 
name  which  he  sought  to  honour.  The  incident  is  related  by 
his  sister,  Mrs.  Brown,  in  a  letter  to  her  nephew,  the  late  Eev. 
Bbenezer  Mason  :  "  He  and  myself,  in  company  with  a  num- 
ber of  our  young  acquaintances,  took  an  early  walk  to  break- 
fast at  one  of  the  public  gardens  in  Greenwich.  When  seated 
at  the  table,  my  brother  requested  our  friends  to  wait  a  moment 
while  he  should  ask  a  blessing.  The  company,  who  were  all 
gay  and  volatile,  appeared  thunderstruck.  '  God  was  not  in 
all  their  thoughts.'  Even  his  worldly-minded  sister  felt 
abashed,  and  thought  the  business  ill-timed.  He  however 
asked  a  blessing  and  returned  thanks ;  and  I  was  much  sur- 
prised a  few  days  afterwards,  that  an  elderly  gentleman  of 
considerable  consequence  in  the  political  and  fashionable  circles 
of  the  day,  but  an  avowed  Deist,  who  happened  to  be  with  us, 
had  remarked  that  he  should  always  respect  that  young  man 
for  the  moral  courage  which  he  exhibited,  in  daring  to  do  what 
he  believed  right,  even  in  the  face  of  ridicule." 

Notwithstanding  such  an  instance  of  courage,  he  had  sore 
conflicts  with  himself  in  secret,  indicating  a  deep  consciousness 
of  imperfect  attainments  in  the  Christian  life.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  a  fast-day  was  marked  by  such  exercises  of  mind  as 
pious  persons  can  well  appreciate.  The  following  paper  in  his 
own  handwriting,  shows,  not  only  a  careful  self-inspection,  but 
a  habit,  which  he  early  commenced  and  afterwards  perfected, 
of  clearly  analyzing  the  Scriptures,  for  both  personal  improve- 
ment and  public  usefulness.  Indeed,  it  will  often  be  seen  in 
the  progress  of  these  pages,  that  his  mental  development,  in 
every  stage  of  it,  derived  the  most  incalculable  advantage  from 
an  early  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  sacred  volume :  — 


14  FAST   DAY. 

September  25th,  1788. 

The  holy  Psahnist,  after  having  examined  himself,  and  ob- 
tained a  view  of  his  sins,  cries  out  in  the  anguish  of  his  soul 
that  his  "  iniquities  are  more  in  number  than  the  hairs  of  his 
head." 

With  great  propriety  may  I  take  up  the  complaint,  and 
add  that  my  sins  are  as  much  more  numerous  than  the  Psal- 
mist's as  his  were  than  the  hairs  of  his  head ;  since  these  were 
committed  against  the  brightest  light  of  the  New  Testament 
dispensation,  and  frequently  in  the  face  of  conscience,  and  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  strivings  of  the  Iloly  Spirit  by  way  of 
conviction. 

It  is  therefore  a  very  important  duty  on  a  day  of  fasting 
and  humiliation,  to  inquire  with  awful  solemnity  and  impar- 
tiality, whether  the  guilt  of  these  sins  has,  or  has  not  been 
washed  out  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb ;  to  make  sincere  con- 
fession of  them  to  God,  driving  self-partiality  from  every 
refuge  to  which  it  may  betake  itself,  and  to  bring  the  heart 
and  conversation  to  the  infallible  test  of  God's  unerring  word ; 
and  as  the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately 
wicked,  to  look  up  to  the  Lord,  that  he  would  send  down  his 
searching  Spirit,  to  take  the  work  into  his  own  hands,  beseech- 
ing him,  that,  if  my  state  should  be  found,  upon  impartial  trial 
to  be  Christless,  he  would  not  permit  me  to  be  one  moment  at 
ease  till  I  had  cordially  closed  with  the  Eedeemer  as  he  is 
offered  by  free  grace  in  the  Gospel.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
I  should  find  any  good  reason  to  believe  that. I  belonged  to 
the  little  flock  of  his  true  disciples,  that  he  would  be  pleased 
to  witness,  by  the  powerful  application  of  his  word  and  the 
sensible  presence  of  his  spirit,  my  title  to  the  character  of  a 
child  of  God. 

After  then,  having  considered  the  state  of  my  soul,  reflected 
upon  the  workings  of  corruption  therein,  and  charged  con- 
science as  in  the  presence  of  the  heart-searching  God,  not  to 
say  any  more  than  it  will  own  on  the  tremendous  day,  when 
the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  made  manifest ;  and  having 
my  eye  fixed  upon  the  Lord  as  my  guide,  I  have  ventured 
upon  the  following  conclusions  : — 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  15 

1.  That  notwithstanding  my  multiplied  and  highly  aggra- 
vated sins,  in  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit — in  looking  over,  and 
(often)  indulging  secret  lusts,  in  acts  of  unbelief,  in  breaking 
the  covenant  of  my  God,  with  many  other  species  of  transgres- 
sions against  all  and  each  of  his  holy  commandments,  not- 
withstanding all  these,  it  is  still  the  resolution  of  my  soul, 
from  time  to  time,  to  cast  myself  upon  free  grace,  and  to  live 
and  die  at  the  throne  of  mercy. 

2.  That,  if  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  am  pleased  with  the 
plan  of  salvation  of  free  grace,  and  am  willing  to  receive  the 
Saviour  upon  his  own  terms,  giving  God  the  glory  of  my  re- 
demption, and  renouncing  all  dependence  on  the  works  of  the  law. 

3.  That  sin,  as  sin,  is  the  burden  of  my  soul;  that  salvation 
from  it  is  the  great  desire  of  my  heart ;  that  holiness  is  my 
aim  ;  and  conformity  to  the  image  of  God,  my  highest  wish. 

4.  That  upon  these  considerations,  I  would  humbly  at- 
tempt to  claim  the  Redeemer  as  my  Redeemer,  and  therefore 
as  before  God  and  his  witnessing  spirits,  take  him  as  my  Lord 
and  Master  in  all  his  offices,  renouncing  all  former  lovers,  en- 
tering my  protest  at  his  throne  against  future  slips,  devoting 
myself  soul  and  body  to  his  service,  determined  through  grace, 
to  follow  him  through  good  report  and  bad  report,  looking  up 
to  him  for  support,  and  expecting  with  resignation  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  promise  to  send  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  my  soul 
may  rejoice  in  his  love,  and  that  my  salvation  may  go  forth  as 
a  lamp  that  burneth.     Amen. 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

Ao^a  fiovo)  TO)  Geo). 

Blessed  be  God  for  the  glorious  message  in  Luke  xxii.  31 
32.  "  Simon,  Simon,  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  thee,  that  he 
may  sift  thee  as  wheat,  but  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy 
faith  fail  not,  and  when  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy 
brethren." 

In  this  passage  there  seems  to  be  the  following  things  im- 
plied : — 

1.  That  though  the  Lord  might  permit  Satan  to  trouble 
Peter,  yet  he  would  support  him  by  Divine  grace,  that  his 
faith  might  be  strong  and  obtain  the  victory  over  temptations. 


16  A  FRAGMENT— MENTAL  CULTURE. 

2.  That  he  loas  a  chosen  vessel,  and  should  be  recovered 
from  any  slips  that  he  might  make,  and  thereby  be  fitted  for 
eminent  service  to  the  church  of  God. 

3.  That  his  duty  was,  after  having  received  such  distin- 
guished mercy,  to  strengthen  his  brethren,  by  showing  them 
the  fulness  of  the  Redeemer's  grace,  and  exhorting  them  to 
wait  upon  him  with  resignation  to  his  will. 

4.  That  the  comfort  and  victory  of  believers  is  sure,  as 
Christ  has  already  prayed  for  them,  yet  they  must  wait  his  own 
time  for  the  receiving  of  that  comfort. 

5.  That  they  who  have  had  the  sorest  conflicts  with  tempta- 
tions and  the  corruption  of  their  own  heart,  are  the  fittest  to 
confirm  the  faith  of  their  brethren. 

6.  That  in  the  severest  trials  we  should  not  despair,  be- 
cause we  have  a  great  high  priest  within  the  vail,  pleading  our 

cause,  whom  the  Father  heareth  always. 

J.  M.  M. 

The  intellectual  part  of  his  character  likewise  became  early 
developed.  At  seven  years  of  age  he  had  read  through  the 
whole  of  Rollin's  Ancient  History.  Yet  the  unsettled  state  of 
things  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  when  he  was  passing 
through  much  of  the  forming,  and  thus  most  important  period 
of  his  life,  he  must  have  been  deprived  of  many  advantages. 
We  are  not  distinctly  informed  at  what  school  he  acquired  the 
rudiments  of  the  classics  or  of  mathematics.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  the  instruction  which  he  received  from  his  father  at 
every  stage  of  his  education,  he  always  valued  more  highly  than 
any  which  he  received  from  all  other  sources,  whether  in  school, 
college,  or  theological  hall. 

In  the  year  1787,  we  find  him  a  student  in  Columbia  College, 
New  York,  where  he  took  his  first  degree.  May  6th,  1789.  Ilis 
instructors  and  classmates  have  accorded  to  him  the  reputation 
of  abilities  and  industry,  of  good  scholarship,  and  correct  de- 
portment. One  of  them.  Professor  Cochran,  afterwards  a 
church  dignitary  in  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia,  writes  :  "  If 
I  feel  partiality  for  all  whom  I  have  instructed,  I  surely  do  it 
for  bira  who  is  the  son  of  my  most  valued  friend;  and  that 
pupil  whom  I  was  always  proud  to  point  out  as  giving  great 
promise." 


COMPOSITIONS.  17 

But  some  of  his  compositions  written  at  tliis  period,  afford  a 
more  unequivocal  and  better  defined  testimony  of  what  he  was. 
Though  not  free  from  juvenile  imperfections,  they  indicate,  we 
think,  attainments,  mental  discipline,  power  of  continuous 
thinking,  force  of  expression,  acquaintance  with  history  and  the 
classics,  and  skill  in  using  them  both  for  illustration  and  orna- 
ment, which  are  not  common  with  boys  in  their  teens.  At  the 
same  time  they  exhibit  some  striking  features  which  distinctly 
presage  the  future  character.  They  illustrate  the  adage  that  "  the 
child  is  the  father  of  the  man."  The  swelling  bud  foretold  the 
coming  flower  and  fruit.  His  method,  it  seems,  was  not  so  much 
to  write  insulated  pieces  on  separate  subjects,  as  series  of  them  in 
continuation  on  the  same  subject.  Two  of  such  series  have 
been  preserved  :  one  running  through  eight  numbers  on  "Self- 
command  ;"  the  other,  consisting  of  the  same  number,  the  last 
two  of  which  are  in  Latin,  on  "Duelling."  The  development 
of  his  mind  would  best  appear  by  publishing  these  entire  ;  but, 
brevity  being  our  aim,  a  small  part  must  suffice.  The  follow- 
ing is  No.  4  of  the  first  series,  and  is  dated  Columbia  College, 
July  26,  1788  :— 

"  We  have  already  seen  the  importance  of  bringing  our  ac- 
tions to  the  standard  of  reason,  and  of  holding  the  reins  of 
strict  and  inflexible  command  over  the  passions,  in  order  to 
secure  an  impartial  administration  of  justice;  in  order  to  rise 
in  the  confidence  of  our  country,  and  thus  to  honourable  distinc- 
tion ;  in  order  to  preserve  tranquility  in  one's  own  breast ;  in 
order  to  be  instrumental  in  promoting  the  happiness  of  others  ; 
and  in  order  to  discuss  with  propriety  and  truth  any  matter 
which  may  be  submitted  to  our  decision. 

"Let  us  now  take  another  view  of  the  subject,  and  examine 
the  utility  of  self-command  with  respect  to  the  consequences  of 
actions.  It  is  usual  with  many,  particularly  in  the  younger  and 
more  ardent  part  of  life,  when  a  new  theme  strikes  their  fancy, 
to  think  of  nothing  but  the  means  of  accomplishing  it.  A 
more  fallacious  course  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  They  who 
are  governed  by  sudden  and  strong  impulses,  and  can  assign 
no  reason  for  their  measures  but  first  impressions,  seem  to  for- 
get that  appearances  are  often  deceitful,  and  may  lead  us  into 
mistakes  the  most  fatal.     Careful  examination  is  necessary  for 

0 


18  COMPOSITIONS. 

acquiring  a  correct  knowledge  of  what  ought  to  be  done,  and 
what  omitted.  But  he  who  acts  from  the  blind  dictates  of  im- 
pulse or  passion,  rushes  on  with  precipitancy,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences, and  not  unfrequently  is  hurled  from  the  pinnacle  of 
hope  into  the  abyss  of  woe. 

"  The  ingenious  ^Esop,  in  one  of  his  fobles,  furnishes  a 
striking  lesson  against  such  rashness,  when  he  introduces  two 
frogs  discoursing  on  the  best  method  of  procuring  a  supply  of 
water  on  the  drying  up  of  the  ponds.  One  of  them  was  for 
leaping  without  ceremony  into  a  deep  well.  But  the  other. 
who  appeared  a  more  sagacious  frog,  hindered  him,  saying: 
'Stop,  brother;  in  case  the  well  should  likewise  dry  up,  what 
would  become  of  us'?'  The  moral  is,  that  we  should  be  cau- 
tious, and  weigh  well  our  designs  before  we  execute  them.  It 
often  happens,  that,  what  at  first  sight  seems  very  agreeable 
and  wise,  upon  mature  examination,  proves  the  worst  evil  that 
can  befall  us." 

In  No.  5,  he  considers  his  subject  in  its  relation  to  conversa- 
tion, where  there  is  often  occasion  for  restraining  the  "  unruly 
member."  In  No.  6,  he  views  it  in  relation  to  the  spirit  of  detrac- 
tion ;  and  in  No.  7,  to  sallies  of  wit.  In  No.  8,  he  answers  ob- 
jections, and  solves  difficalties.    The  following  is  a  specimen  : — 

"Some  may  object,  that  the  strength  of  their  passions  is  so 
confirmed  by  habit  as  to  render  the  restraint  of  them  impracti- 
cable. This  objection  is  as  futile  as  the  former.  If  the  an- 
cient adage,  'consuetudo  est  altera  natura,' be  true,  why  can- 
not a  steady  perseverance  in  a  correct  course  acquire  the  force 
of  habit?  and  why  may  not  one  habit  be  supplanted  by  an- 
other ?  Besides,  facts  prove  it  not  only  practicable,  but  fre- 
quently more  easy  than  could  at  first  be  imagined.  There  are 
so  many  examples  of  persons  surmounting  the  most  discouraging 
difficulties,  that  no  excuse  can  be  left  on  this  score  for  any  who 
will  make  the  attempt ;  and  using  this  as  a  plea  for  irresolution 
is  nothing  but  a  virtual  declaration,  that  they  are  contented  to 
remain  slaves  to  their  passions. 

"  Another  class  may  perhaps  be  more  assuming,  and  to  pal- 
liate their  pusillanimity,  say  :  'AVe  cannot  alter  the  disposition 
God  has  given  us.'     Presumptuous  objector!     Wouldest  thou 


COMPOSITIONS.  19 

throw  the  blame  of  an  evil  bent  at  heaven's  door  ?  Shall  the 
author  of  all  perfection  impart  a  principle  directly  contrary  to 
His  holy  nature?  God  may  permit,  but  never  gave  a  bad  dis- 
position. Away  with  the  iniquitous  supposition !  The  genius 
of  his  religion  breathes  nothing  but  peace  on  earth  and  good 
will  to  men,  and  the  spirit  of  every  endearing  virtue  which  or- 
naments the  human  soul.  Has  He  not  commanded  us  to  be 
meek  and  lowly,  and  to  subject  every  vicious  propensity  to 
reason's  mild  dominion  ?  Has  He  appointed  the  end  without 
appointing  likewise  the  means  ?  The  thought  is  pregnant  with 
blasphemy.  What  is  the  tendency  of  it,  but  to  accuse  Him,  in 
whom  dwells  the  fulness  of  wisdom  and  compassion,  of  folly 
and  tyranny  ?" 


CHAPTER  III. 
1789-1791. 

STUDIKS   THKOLOGY    WITH   HIS  FATHER 

Method  of  Study — Diligence — Difficulties  Encountered — Exegetical  Fxaginents — 

Diary. 

After  leaving  college,  in  1789,  he  commenced  the  study  of 
Theology  as  a  profession  with  his  father  ;  at  the  same  time  con- 
tinuing privately  the  study  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics. 
The  method  adopted  by  his  father,  and  afterwards  so  earnestly 
recommended  by  himself,  was  to  take,  not  any  sj'stematic  trea- 
tise, but  the  Bible  itself  for  his  text  book,  and  to  examine  that 
very  thoroughly  in  the  original  languages,  in  its  entire  connex- 
ions, and  with  all  the  aids  which  could  be  derived  from  ancient 
geography,  historj^,  poetry,  customs,  and  opinions  both  philo- 
sophical and  religious,  whether  Jewish,  Grecian,  or  Oriental. 
Aside  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  his  plan  was  to  study  more 
by  subjects  than  by  books — using  systems  of  Divinity  rather 
for  purposes  of  arrangement  than  of  investigation.  He  knew 
that  of  authors  there  was  no  end ;  and  that  in  the  perusal  of 
them,  there  was  often  more  weariness  than  proht.  He  knew 
too,  that  the  student  would  much  more  readih^  learn  to  bring 
his  own  faculties  into  efficient  action  and  use  (the  great  object 
of  education)  by  accustoming  him  to  look  into  the  nature  of 
the  subject  itself,  than  to  read  a  very  great  deal  of  what  other 
men  have  thought.  It  is  certain  that  under  this  kind  of  training, 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Mason  became  what  it  afterwards  was ;  and 
that  he  always  gave  his  father  the  greatest  credit  for  it. 

The  closeness  of  his  application  at  this  period,  his  attention 
to  classical  literature,  and  his  admiration  of  it,  as  well  as  the 
character  and  influence  of  his  father,  are  somewhat  indicated 
by  a  letter,  dated  New  York,  Feb.  4,  1790:— 


DILIGENCE — DISCOURAGEMENT.  21 

•  "  Never  was  I  so  completely  employed  as  at  present.  While 
engaged  in  academical  studies  I  thought  that  their  termination 
would  put  a  period  to  a  great  part  of  my  labour.  This  was  the 
groundless  fancy  of  inexperience.  I  am  now  thoroughly  per- 
suaded of  what  my  father  often  told  me,  and  what  I  never  could 
believe,  that  a  course  of  college  education  is  mere  play.  Every 
moment,  from  morning  till  night,  and  as  much  of  the  night  as 
possible,  has  its  constant  employment.  To  a  leisure  hour 
through  the  day,  I  am  an  entire  stranger.  Even  now  I  sacrifice 
the  pursuits  of  study  to  the  requisitions  of  friendship.  Such 
confinement,  however,  is  far  from  being  painful.  Encompassed 
with  the  grave  volumes  of  ancient  literature,  I  feel  myself  as 
in  the  company  of  Grecian  and  Roman  sages.  While  I  read 
their  works,  I  tliink  I  hear  them  speak.  I  am  every  day  more 
and  more  convinced,  and  my  opinion  is  confirmed  by  the  voices 
of  learned  men  in  every  age,  that  he  who  can  peruse  with  in- 
difference the  writings  of  those  men,  who,  while  they  instruct 
the  judgment,  fire  the  imagination  and  affect  the  heart,  must  be 
callous  to  the  beauties  of  style,  and  to  the  dignity  of  sentiment. 
Think  not  that  I  undervalue  the  productions  of  modern  genius. 
Far  from  it;  but  if  I  err  in  preferring  the  classics,  my  error  is 
to  be  accounted  for ;  it  flows  from  emotions  excited  by  the  un- 
rivalled excellence  of  transcendent  genius." 

In  his  theological  course,  he  sometimes  became  exceedingly 
discouraged  at  the  slowness  of  his  progress.  On  one  occasion, 
he  came  to  his  father,  lamenting  that  he  had  encountered  a  dif- 
ficulty, which,  after  three  hours  of  the  most  intense  application, 
appeared  as  formidable  as  ever.  "  Three  hours  !"  replied  his 
father,  *'if  you  thoroughly  master  a  real  difficulty  in  three 
loeeks,  you  are  doing  remarkably  well  "  He  himself  afterwards 
came  most  fully  to  the  same  conclusion.  He  has  often  been 
heard  to  say,  that  to  learn  the  precise  point  of  a  difficulty,  and 
clearly  define  its  shape  in  one's  own  mind,  is  studying  to  good- 
purpose,  and  is  m.ore  than  half  his  preparation  for  solving  it. 
And  the  solution  gained  by  this  severe  process  is  of  far  greater 
value  than  if  he  had  been  brought  to  it  in  an  easier  way  by  the 
assistance  of  others.  The  business  of  education,  he  thought, 
was  to  bring  the  pupil's  own  powers  into  play.  It  was  not  so 
much  to  impart  to  him  the  knowledge  of  others,  as  to  form 


22  THOROUGHNESS. 

habits  for  acquiring  knowledge  by  Himself,  and  for  using  it 
when  acquired. 

On  another  occasion,  his  father  came  into  his  room  with  a 
newspaper  in  his  hand,  requesting  him  to  read  an  article  which 
he  considered  a  triumphant  vindication  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, in  answer  to  an  infidel  attack  which  had  appeared  not 
long  before.  The  blushes  and  embarrassment  of  the  pupil,  be- 
trayed the  authorship  of  the  article.  The  old  gentleman,  with- 
out speaking  another  word,  took  the  paper  with  him,  and  in 
his  own  study  subjected  it  in  every  part  to  the  most  critical  ex- 
amination, and  pointed  out  evSry  imperfection  which  his  closest 
scrutiny  could  detect.  With  these  strictures  carefully  written 
down,  he  returned  to  his  son.  The  latter  was  pained  by  the 
very  strict  ordeal  through  which  his  composition  had  passed ; 
but  ever  afterwards,  as  he  has  often  been  heard  to  express  him- 
self, felt  thankful  for  the  benefit  which  it  had  afforded  him. 
He  was  thus  taught,  that,  even  after  successful  efforts,  yet  higher 
and  higher  degrees  of  excellence  may  be  attained  ;  and  that 
vigorous  minds  should  willingly  bear  whatever  mortification  or 
labour  may  be  necessary  for  the  highest.  It  is  not  by  flattery 
or  indulgence,  but  by  severe  discipline,  that  minds  really  great 
are  made. 

It  is  always  interesting  to  trace  the  inner  life  of  Christians — 
its  commencement  and  its  progress, — its  struggles  and  its  tri- 
umphs. For  this  reason  there  need  be  no  apology  for  intro- 
ducing what  follows.  The  state  of  Mr.  Mason's  mind  at  this 
period,  respecting  his  relations  to  the  Supreme  Being  and  the 
interests  of  eternity,  as  well  as  to  the  great  work  for  which  he 
was  preparing,  may  be  gathered  from  portions  of  a  diary,  or 
private  thoughts  which  he  committed  to  writing.  Specimens 
are  subjoined  ;  and  others  will  be  reserved  for  future  chapters. 

Some,  it  will  be  seen,  were  written  in  New  York  ;  some  in 
■Edinburgh  ;  and  some  after  his  return. 

"  December,  29th,  1790.  O  Sin,  what  hast  thou  done  ?  Into 
what  wretchedness  hast  thou  plunged  man?  How  hast  thou 
enervated  all  his  powers,  and  made  him  pleased  with  his  weak- 
ness and  wickedness?  Misery  must  be  the  fruit  of  sin.  God 
is  the  fountain  of  light  and  happiness,  and,  in  the  nature  of 


DIARY.  23 

things,  darkness  and  woe  and  death  must  proceed  from  distance 
from  Him,  as  inevitably  as  cold  is  produced  by  the  absence  of 
the  sun.  I  feel,  I  feel  the  melancholy  truth.  0  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? 
As  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul 
for  God,  the  living  God.  Compassionate  Saviour,  send  forth 
thy  light  and  thy  truth !  Send  help  from  Thy  holy  hill,  that 
I  may  rejoice  in  Thy  salvation  !  Precious  Christ,  precious  righ- 
teousness, precious  atonement !  It  is  all  my  salvation  ;  it  is  all 
my  desire  !  Here  I  am  warranted  to  rest  my  faith.  Here  my 
soul  is  safe.  Why  should  I  doubt  the  Redeemer's  willingness 
to  receive  me  ?  At  any  rate,  if  I  forsake  him,  there  is  no  hope 
for  me.  If  I  venture  upon  Him,  I  may  find  a  welcome.  He 
has  said,  him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out :  he 
cannot  deny  himself:  and  on  this  promise  will  I  hang  begging 
for  salvation  from  the  free  grace  of  God,  Let  others  say  or 
think  what  they  please  about  good  dispositions,  &c.,  sure  I  am 
that  if  ever  I  be  saved,  my  salvation  will  be  entirely  of  sove- 
reign, unmerited  grace.  I  find  my  heart  to  be  just  what  God 
declares  it,  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately  wicked ; 
and  were  he  not  to  keep  me,  I  should  instantly  run  from  him  ; 
let  him,  therefore,  have  all  the  glory,  while  I  reap  the  benefit. 

"  December  30th  and  31st.  Darkness  and  doubt,  lethargy 
and  listlessness,  the  furious  workings  of  corraption,  the  hiding  of 
God's  countenance,  render  my  soul  miserable.  O  when  shall 
the  day  break,  the  shadows  flee  away,  and  that  day-star  arise 
in  my  mind.  It  is  the  end  of  the  old  year,  would  to  God  it 
might  be  the  end  of  my  old  state  of  distance  from  him ! 

"January  1st,  1791.  Another  year  is  past,  and  whither  is 
it  gone  ?  What  can  I  show  to  prove  that  I  have  been  redeem- 
ing the  time?  I  am  this  day  a  year  nearer  to  my  long  home 
than  I  was  the  1st  of  last  January  :  am  I  better  prepared  to 
meet  my  God?  What  improvement  have  I  made?  What 
corruptions  are  subdued?  What  advances  in  holiness  have  I 
made?  what  returns  to  the  Lord  who  has  fed  and  clothed  me 
all  my  life  long  unto  this  hour?  May  this  new  year  be  one  of 
a  new  life  in  my  soul.     In  this  year  will  the  Lord  manifest 


24  DARKNESS. 

himself  to  me  ?  My  soul  is  in  bondage  ;  may  tlie  jubilee  of  my 
deliverance  now  come  !  Have  I  not  long  enough  served  sin, 
Satan,  and  the  world  ?  It  is  a  dreadful  service.  May  I  now 
become  one  of  Christ's  freemen.  I  need  thy  salvation  as  much 
as  any  poor  sinner  can  need  it.  Jesus,  Master,  have  mercy  on 
me ;  manifest  thyself  to  me,  and  then  I  will  proclaim  thy  love 
to  others.  Let  me  not,  oh!  let  me  not  preach  an  unknown 
Christ.  I  fly  to  the  arms  of  redeeming  love.  Thou  hast  said, 
come  to  me  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.  Take  me,  blessed  Saviour,  take  me,  behold  I 
am  thine.  I  accept  thy  offer,  I  believe  thy  promise.  Lord, 
'  do  as  thou  hast  said.'  " 

"  January  7th.  I  find  every  day  more  and  more  reason 
to  confess  that  I  am  all  as  an  unclean  thing,  and  my  very 
righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags.  And  I  do  fade  as  a  leaf, 
and  mine  iniquities,  like  the  wind,  have  taken  me  away.  Ls. 
Ixiv.  6. 

"  Remember,  I  beseech  thee,  thy  gracious  word  '  on  which 
thou  hast  caused  thy  servant  to  hope  :'  '  Satan  hath  desired  to 
have  thee  that  he  may  sift  thee  as  wheat,  but  I  have  prayed 
for  thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not.'  This  Avord  of  thine  is  'my 
comfort  in  mine  affliction.'  Scarcely  a  day  pr  night  passes  in 
which  the  Satan  without,  and  the  Satan  Avithin,  do  not  sift  me. 
Great  captain  of  salvation,  bind  the  strong  man.  Wash  me, 
Lord,  wash  me  clean  in  the  blood  of  the  Saviour,  that  fountain 
which  is  opened  for  sin  and  uncleanness.  I  plead  his  right- 
eousness, not  only  for  justification,  but  for  sanctification.  This 
is  my  only  hope.     Every  thing  in  mj^self  deserves  damnation. 

"  How  apt  are  we  to  say,  in  the  moments  of  peace  and  joy, 
'  my  mountain  stands  strong,  and  I  shall  never  be  moved !' 
This  is  to  make  a  Christ  of  our  frame,  and  as  he  will  not  give 
his  glorj^  to  another,  he  will  make  us  know  that  without  him 
we  can  do  nothing.  No  longer  ago  than  yesterda}',  my  free- 
dom in  pouring  out  my  soul  before  God,  the  sweet  tranquility 
arising  from  resting  in  his  grace  through  the  precious,  precious 
Saviour,  made  me  think,  can  I  offend  against  such  unmerited 
love  ?  No,  I  am  proof  against  temptation.  But  oh,  how 
changed  !     Yesterday  had  not  passed,  before  a  furious  storm  of 


DAYBREAK.  25 

corruption  demolished,  in  an  instant,  the  fabric  I  had  reared. 
When  the  everlasting  arms  are  drawn  but  one  moment  from 
underneath  me,  I  sink  into  deep  mire;  my  strength  is  weak- 
ness ;  and  my  golden  dreams  vanish.  We  are  prone  to  be  off 
our  guard ;  and  in  those  very  seasons  in  which  our  enemies 
seem  far  off,  they  are  watching  an  opportunity  to  assault  us ; 
they  then  surprise,  and  often,  oh,  how  often  vanquish  us ! 
May  a  sense  of  my  faults  keep  me  humble,  and  near  the  Re- 
deemer !" 

"January  21st.  This  afternoon  I  will  reckon  among  the 
days  never  to  be  forgotten.  Uneasy  under  a  sense  of  guilt, 
and  reflecting  on  the  high  attainments  of  many  who  never 
know  the  Lord,  I  trembled  at  the  apprehension  lest  I  also, 
when  weighed  in  the  balances,  might  be  found  wanting.  The 
remark  of  godly  divines,  that  when  the  conscience  is  often 
alarmed,  and  not  suffered  to  rest,  these  frequent  visits  often 
issue  in  real  conversion,  was  constantly  in  my  mind.  But  this 
could  give  no  peace  till  the  Saviour  him.self  spoke.  I  heard 
his  gentle  voice,  '  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock ! 
Never  till  now  had  these  words  such  a  sweet  sound.  I  trusted 
that  the  inquietudes  of  my  mind  were  the  whispers  of  his 
spirit." 

"February  4th,  1791.  'I  cried  unto  the  Lord  with  my 
voice,  even  unto  God  with  my  voice,  and  he  heard  me.'  Cor- 
ruptions had  raged  so  furiously  that  I  knew  not  what  to  do. 
Reflection  on  the  riches  and  freedom  of  redeeming  love  made 
my  heart  tender,  and  laid  me  under  a  necessity,  a  sweet  neces- 
sity, of  going  to  the  throne  of  grace  and  pouring  out  my  com- 
plaints into  the  -bosom  of  my  Heavenly  Father.  He  inclined 
his  ear  unto  me.  He  told  me  :  '  The  God  of  peace  will  bruise 
Satan  under  your  feet  shortly.'  Rom.  xvi.  20.  Now  know  '  I 
that  the  Lord'  hath  heard,  and  '  will  hear  from  his  holy  heaven 
with  the  saving  strength  of  his  right  hand.'  I  know,  that 
through  Christ  strengthening  me  I  shall  be  more  than  a  con- 
queror over  my  lusts.  Oh,  that  the  happy  hour  may  speedily 
arrive  !  Till  it  do.  Lord,  give  me  grace  to  be  humble  ;  to  be 
thankful  for  what  I  have  already  received,  and  to  wait  patiently 
for  thy  salvation.      Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 


26  BIRTHDAY  REFLECTIONS. 

"  March  19th,  1791.  This  day  completes  the  twenty-first  year 
of  my  age  ;  and  what  account  can  I  give  of  my  time,  of  myself? 
Twenty-one  years  have  I  lived  on  God's  earth  ;  but  what  have 
I  done  for  God's  honour  ?  He  has  fed  and  clothed  me  all  my 
life  long  unto  this  day.  He  has  showered  down  upon  me  the 
choicest  blessings  of  his  Providence.  He  has  given  me  health 
which  has  scarcely  known  interruption.  He  has  favoured  me 
with  an  education  calculated  to  render  me  useful  to  his  Church, 
and  to  the  world.  He  has  supplied  me  with  everything  that 
my  heart  can  desire,  for  prosecuting  my  studies  and  investigat- 
ing truth.  Time,  opportunity,  easy  circumstances,  convenient 
accommodation,  books,  and  an  invaluable  director.  He  has 
caused  me  to  be  born  of  parents  who  were  eminently  pious.  He 
has  enabled  them  to  be  very  faithful  in  their  instructions  to 
me,  and  to  support  their  advices  by  correspondent  example. 
He  has  imparted  to  my  father  the  gift  of  government,  by  which 
he  has  preserved  me  from  wicked  courses,  and  accustomed  me 
to  filial  obedience,  and  thus  kept  me  from  a  multitude  of  sins. 
He  has  blessed  me  with  a  good  reputation,  and  has  not  suffered 
me  to  forfeit  it  by  vicious  behavioiir.  He  has  not  permitted 
me  to  rest  satisfied  with  eternal  decencj^,  but  has,  from  time  to 
time,  awakened  my  conscience  to  a  sense  of  guilt,  and  notwith- 
standing my  obstinacy,  and  carelessness,  and  striving  to  quench 
the  convictions  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  he  did  not  cut  me  off  in 
mine  iniquity,  and  cast  me  into  hell,  as,  with  unimpeachable 
justice,  he  might  have  done.  He  did  not  forsake  me,  nor  leave 
me  to  myself,  but  returned  and  continued  to  knock  at  the  door 
of  my  soul.  He  gradually  opened  my  eyes  to  see  the  wretched- 
ness of  my  situation,  and  the  necessity  of  redemption  from 
sin.  He  did  not  suffer  me  to  be  contented' with  the  fig  leaves 
of  my  own  righteousness,  but  enlightened  me  farther,  to  see 
that  by  nature  I  am  under  the  broken  covenant  of  my  father 
Adam  ;  and,  therefore,  that  even  my  righteousness  is  under 
the  curse.  He  did  not  abandon  me  to  despair,  but  led  me  to 
view  Jesus  Christ  as  the  propitiation  for  sin  ;  to  be  persuaded 
of  his  perfect  righteousness  ;  to  find  in  his  atonement  the  price 
of  my  justification  before  God.  He  made  the  Redeemer  appear 
amiable  in  all  his  offices,  of  a  prophet,  priest,  and  king.  He 
unfolded  to  my  sight  his  infinite  fulness,  and  his  abundant  will- 


COVENANT.  27 

infjness  to  save  the  vilest  sinner,  and  mv  own  warrant  to  be- 
lieve  on  him  as  my  Saviour.  He  bent  my  stubborn  will  into  a 
cordial  acquiescence  in  Divine  sovereignty,  and  a  joy  in  the 
plan  of  salvation  by  free  grace.  He  led  me,  if  I  know  myself) 
into  an  unreserved  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  God  as 
my  covenant  God  in  him.  He  caused  me  to  seal  that  accept- 
ance, and  avow  it  to  the  world  by  taking  my  seat  at  his  table. 
He  h'as  there  lifted  upon  me,  in  some  measure,  the  light  of  his 
everlasting  countenance,  has  shed  serenity  into  my  soul,  and 
thereby  given  a  pledge  of  his  love.  And  although  I  have 
grievously  backslidden  from  him,  have  broken  my  vows,  and 
defiled  my  heart,  he  has  not  taken  from  me  his  loving  kind- 
ness, but  sent  his  word  and  healed  me ;  lifted  me  out  of  the 
mire,  and  put  a  song  of  triumph  into  my  mouth.  He  has  also 
heard  my  prayer,  has  stooped  down  from  heaven — his  dwelling- 
place — and  delivered  me  from  temptation,  when  I  was  unable 
to  resist.  He  has  promised  me  the  victory  over  the  enemies  of 
my  peace,  and  has  done  all  this  without  distracting  me  with 
his  terrors.  He  has  mercifully  refused  my  unadvised  petition 
to  know  the  terrors  of  his  law,  and  has  drawn  me  with  the 
cords  of  love.  I  adore  his  sovereignty,  and  thank  him  for  Jiis 
tenderness.  What  shall  I  render  to  the  Lord  for  all  his  bene- 
fits towards  me?  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  will 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  I  will  pay  my  vows  to  the 
Lord. 

"  I  here  renew  all  my  former  engagements  to  be  his.  I  take 
God  to  be  my  God  in  Christ,  Jesus  to  be  my  Saviour,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  be  my  guide  and  comforter.  I  vow  myself 
away  to  the  Lord,  and  am  no  longer  ray  own,  I  dedicate  my- 
self to.  his  service  in  the  ministry  of  his  Son.  I  break  my  league 
with  hell.  Poor  is  the  offering,  but  Jesus  has  commanded  it. 
'  My  son,  give  me  thine  heart ;'  and  I  know  he  will  not  refuse 
it.  Amen  !  'Tis  the  voluntary,  'tis  the  joyous  act  of  my  soul. 
Amen !     Amen  ! 

"JOHN  M.  MASON. 

"  Dear  Redeemer,  I  desire  to  rest  up^  thee  as  the  Lord  my 
righteousness,  and  the  Lord  my  strength.  Give  me  strength 
to  fulfil  my  vows,  to  follow  thee  in  all  the  ways  of  new  obe- 


28  LIGHT   AND  JOY. 

dience ;  to  trample  temptations  under  foot,  particularly  the  sin 
that  doth  so  easily  beset  me,  and  to  surmount  all  the  difficulties 
(they  are  many  and  great)  which  oppose  my  progress," 

"  Thursday,  April  14th,  1791.  I  think  I  never  found  my 
heart  in  a  worse  frame  than  on  this  day,  a  day,  too,  of  fasting, 
as  a  preparation  for  celebrating  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Instead  of  that  solemnity,  tenderness,  humility*  con- 
trition, which  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer,  my  heart  was  unconcerned,  hard,  proud,  and  unfeeling ; 
darkness,  and  listlessness,  and  deadness  filled  my  soul.  I  could 
neither  meditate,  nor  pray,  nor  examine  myself,  nor  shed  one 
tear  for  sin.  So  stupid  was  I  that  even  Jesus  and  his  everlasting 
love  made  little  impression  on  me.  I  could  not  so  much  as 
exert  myself  A  drowsiness  seized  my  animal  frame,  and 
stifled  every  pious  reflection.  I  attended  public  service,  re- 
turned and  attempted  to  pour  out  my  heart  before  the  Lord. 
'Twas  no  better.  He  shut  my  mouth,  and  I  could  scarcely 
utter  a  word.  Drowsiness  came  again  over  me;  I  laid  down 
my  head  to  sleep,  when  these  words  were  rung  into  my  ears,  as 
with  a  voice  from  the  upper  sanctuary,  '  Awake,  0  thou  that 
sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee 
light.'  I  had  often  heard,  often  read,  often  repeated  these 
words  before,  but  never  did  they  come  with  such  power.  I 
rose  up  ;  my  drowsiness  vanished  ;  my  heart  melted  into  ten- 
derness ;  my  bands  were  loosed  ;  I  got  liberty  to  unbosom  my- 
self to  my  Heavenly  Father.  I  saw  once  more  the  beauty  and 
glory  of  Christ  and  his  salvation ;  and  I  was  enabled  once  more 
to  roll  my  soul  upon  him.  Happy  moment !  Adorable  sov- 
ereignty! '  The  Lord  is  my  portion,  saith  my  soul,  therefore 
will  I  wait  for  him.'" 


CHAPTER    IV. 
1791-1791 

STUDIES    AT    EDINBURGH. 

Reflections  ongoing — Written  counsel  from  his  Father — Eeceived  by  his  uncle — 
Letter  to  his  sister  Margarotta — Deep  religious  anxiety — Letter  to  Mr.  John 
B.  Johnson — His  Father's  illness  and  death — Letter  to  his  step-mother — Ex- 
tract from  his  diary — Reputation  at  the  University — Testimony  of  Dr.  A. 
Ilunter — Of  Dr.  John  Erskine. 

After  studying  nearly  two  years  with  his  father,  it  was  deter- 
mined that  Mr.  Mason  should  further  pursue  his  professional 
education  in  Scotland.  A  step  so  important  could  not  be  ap- 
proached by  him  without  feelings  of  peculiar  interest,  and  was 
well  calculated  to  awaken  the  most  serious  reflections.  Ac- 
cordingly we  find,  from  a  diary  which  he  kept  at  this  period, 
what  special  pains  he  took  to  prepare  himself  for  the  under- 
taking : — 

"April  25,  1791.  In  the  prospect  of  leaving  my  native 
country  and  going  among  strangers,  I  set  apart  this  morning 
for  solemn  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer.  In  all  extraordin- 
ary steps  God  should  be  extraordinarily  acknowledged ;  and 
he  has  given  us  reason  to  believe  that  such  acknowledgments 
shall  not  be  in  vain.  My  heart  was  indeed  very  unfit  for  so 
serious  work.  All  the  corruptions  that  are  there  rose  to  re- 
sist, and  render  the  exercise  irksome.  Satan  plied  hard  with 
his  temptations  to  draw  my  mind  away  from  my  duty.  I  w^as 
enabled,  however,  to  go  through  it,  though  with  great  weak- 
ness and  deadness.  And,  having  reviewed  my  past  life,  I  con- 
fessed to  God  my  aggravated  guilt.  I  besought  pardon  for  the 
righteousness  of  the  dear  Redeemer.  Having  also  examined 
my  Christian  exercises  and  my  present  disposition,  I  do  find, 


80  PEACE   OF  MIND. 

and  think  I  am  warranted,  from  the  Divine  Word,  to  say,  that 
I  am  not  what  I  once  was ;  that  though  I  cannot  distinctly 
tell  the  several  steps  by  which  the  Holy  Spirit  wrought  in  my 
soul  the  work  of  faith,  yet  I  do  know  that  there  has  been 
effected  a  great  and  important  change  in  my  ruling  principles; 
that  this  change  could  not  have  been  produced  by  any  human 
means,  but  was  brought  about  by  the  agency  of  the  blessed 
Spirit.  In  consequence  of  this  change,  my  eyes  are  fixed  on 
Christ.  I  wish  for  no  other  Saviour — no  other  portion.  Hav- 
ing put  the  world,  with  all  its  riches,  honours,  pleasures,  and 
everything  else  that  it  has,  or  can  have,  on  one  side  ;  and,  on 
the  other,  a  crucified,  a  despised,  a  persecuted  Jesus,  with  pov- 
erty, contempt,  reproach,  and  all  other  afiiictions  for  his  name, 
my  soul,  without  a  hesitating  emotion,  cries,  None  but  Christ, 
none  but  Christ !  The  die  is  cast ;  Jesus,  my  beloved,  is  mine, 
and  I  am  his !  I  can  go  to  God  as  my  reconciled  God  in  him, 
and  am  conscious  that  he  is  my  God  forever,  and  will  be  my 
guide  even  unto  death.  Jesus  has  said :  '  I  have  loved  thee 
with  an  everlasting  love,  therefore  with  loving-kindness  have 
I  drawn  thee.'  He  told  me  so  at  his  own  table  (April  17th),  he 
tells  me  so  now,  and  shall  I  not  trust  him  ?  I  am  pleased  Avith 
his  salvation.  I  wish  to  go  out  of  myself  into  him,  to  receive 
daily  of  his  fulness,  and  grace  for  grace.  I  wish  never  to 
separate  from  him  the  promises  of  the  Gospel,  but  in  applying 
them  for  my  comfort  and  consolation,  always  to  embrace  Christ 
in  the  promises  as  their  substance.  I  wish  to  live  b}''  faith 
upon  him,  and  to  be  conformed  to  his  divine  image,  by  grow- 
ing in  grace ;  and,  however  slow  my  progress,  blessed  be 
God,  I  do  feel  my  temper  and  affections  somewhat  more  sancti- 
fied. I  feel  that,  through  Christ  strengthening  me,  I  do  gain 
more  frequent  victories  than  formerly,  over  my  corruptions  ;  if 
at  any  time  they  prove  too  strong  for  me,  I  cannot  rest  till  I 
flee  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  and  embrace  Christ  anew. 

"I  believe,  also,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  has  called  me  to  serve 
him  in  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel ;  and,  therefore,  though 
difficulties,  to  my  reason,  insurmountable,  stand  in  my  way, 
and  I  cannot  see  how  they  arc  to  be  removed,  yet  I  will  go 
forward.  His  faithfulness  is  pledged  to  bear  me  through,  and 
therefore  I  look  from  my  difiiculties  to  Christ.     Though  far 


PARENTAL   COUNSEL.  31 

above  my  strength,  yet  he  has  an  arm  that  is  full  of  power ; 
and,  did  I  not  think  that  he  will  support  me,  I  would  not  ad- 
vance one  step  farther,  but  would  throw  aside  my  studies,  and 
not  attempt  to  carry  a  mountain  which  would  crush  me." 

In  sending  his  son  to  Scotland,  Dr.  Mason's  aim  doubtless 
was,  not  only  higher  accomplishments  in  his  profession,  but  a 
wider  range  of  general  knowledge,  and  such  an  acquaintance 
with  cultivated  and  Christian  society  abroad,  as  might  contri- 
bute to  his  future  usefulness.  Such  views  unite  with  parental 
solicitude  and  wisdom  in  a  paper  with  which  the  young  man  was 
furnished  on  embarking.  This  paper,  moreover,  shows  not  a 
little  of  what  he  himself  was  who  wrote  it — his  own  theory 
and  practice  in  the  sacred  ministry — and  the  maxims  and 
model  on  which  the  character  of  his  son  was  formed.  A  sub- 
sequent event  also  gave  peculiar  emphasis  and  force  to  one 
passage  in  the  communication,  and  rendered  it  almost  prophetic. 
The  paper  follows : — 

TO  MR.  JOHN  M.  MASON. 

New  York,  April  27,  179 L 

As  you  are  about  to  leave  your  native  land  for  some  time, 
and  perhaps  I  may  never  see  your  face  again  in  this  world,  a 
sense  of  duty  and  tender  regard  for  you,  impel  me  to  give  you 
a  few  advices,  which  by  the  blessing  of  God  will  be  useful  to 
you  in  future  life. 

I  wish  you  to  have  the  air  and  address  of  a  gentleman  ;  not 
of  an  affected,  but  a  real  gentleman,  in  whose  character,  good 
sense,  sincerity,  discretion,  affability,  condescension,  an  obliging 
temper,  and  easy  behaviour,  are  principal  traits. 

Go  freely  into  every  respectable  company  when  you  can  be 
introduced  with  propriety,  and  esteem  such  an  introduction 
into  large  and  mixed  companies  a  very  great  favour.  Be  modest 
and  attentive  in  company.  Equally  avoid  loquacity  and  silence. 
Beware  of  impertinent  staring,  but  keep  an  open  countenance. 
Do  not  flatly  contradict  any  person  present,  nor  be  engaged  in 
angry  controversy.  Never  speak  to  the  disadvantage  of  any 
absent  person ;  this  would  be  mean,  ungenerous,  impolite, 
wicked.     Be  very  attentive  to  ladies,  who  will  give  a  polish  to 


32  PARENTAL   COUNSEL. 

your  manners.  Every  part  of  3^our  conversation  towards  them 
should  be  marked  with  the  most  refined  delicacy.  Do  not  re- 
peat any  little  stories  or  anecdotes,  but  such  as  you  have  rea- 
son to  think  none  present  may  be  supposed  to  be  acquainted 
with,  but  take  notice  of  such  as  are  mentioned  by  others,  even 
of  such  as  you  know,  without  giving  any  hint  that  you  have 
heard  of  them  before.  Respectfully  turn  your  face  to  any  per- 
son you  speak  to,  or  who  speaks  to  you.  Be  fond  of  instruc- 
tive conversation,  but  do  not  altogether  disregard  small-talk, 
some  proportion  of  which  is  rendered  necessary  by  the  present 
state  of  society.  Never  give  a  decisive  opinion  about  anything 
in  the  presence  of  your  superiors,  without  pressing  necessity ; 
which  will  seldom  happen.  Say  little  about  yourself,  and  never 
vex  your  friends  with  gloomy  narratives  about  your  little  ail- 
ments. Be  always  cheerful,  but  be  always  grave.  Avoid  loud 
laughter  and  smile  gracefully.  Be  careful  not  to  hurt  the 
feelings  of  any  person  present.  If  you  begin  to  speak  about 
anything,  and  the  company  do  not  take  notice  of  3'ou,  do  not 
make  a  second  attempt  unless  you  are  desired. 

While  in  Britain,  say  little  about  your  own  country. 
Speak  respectfully  of  the  British  government,  avoid  contro- 
versy about  the  late  contest  between  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  and  do  not  directly  or  indirectly  advise  mechanics  or 
farmers  to  leave  the  British  dominions. 

Accommodate  yourself  to  the  habits  of  people,  and  their 
way  of  living,  in  anyplace  you  may  visit.  Do  not  discover 
any  niceness  of  palate,  but  make  the  best  of  homely  fare.  Plain 
people  do  not  study  cookery,  and  you  will  hurt  them  much  by 
showing  any  contempt  of  the  provision  they  may  set  before 
3-ou.  Bo  not  noisy  when  you  stop  at  a  tavern,  be  polite  to  the 
landlord  and  servants  ;  a  real  gentleman  gives  little  trouble  ;  he 
is  easily  pleased. 

Carefully  observe  the  state  of  societj',  the  customs  and 
manners,  the  ju'ogress  or  decline  of  religion,  or  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  in  any  place  to  which  providence  may  lead  you.  Be 
very  curious.     Study  mankind  wherever  you  go. 

I  need  not  guard  you  against  vulgar  companions,  but  be 
very  kind  to  \noi\s  poor  people  and  converse  familiarly  with 
them.     Ilave   few  intimate  friends,  and  be  nice  in  choosing 


SYSTEMATIC   AND   POLEMIC   THEOLOGY.  33 

tliem.  Draw  a  narrow  circle  enclosing  some  about  your  own 
age,  some  of  middle,  and  some  of  old  age,  and  give  the  prefer- 
ence to  those  who  are  most  eminent  in  piety,  learning,  and  po- 
liteness. Depend  most  upon  the  advices  which  are  the  dictates 
of  experience. 

Have  stated  times  for  visiting  your  friends,  unless  they  are 
in  affliction.  Let  your  complimental  visits  be  always  affection- 
ate and  short.  Never  suffer  your  presence  to  be  painful  to 
any  person. 

Be  faithful  to  your  friends.  Be  a  punctual  correspondent; 
keep  secrets;  be  affable  to  all  men.  Be  not  overcome  of  evil, 
but  overcome  evil  with  good,  praying  for  and  seeking  oppor- 
tuniiies  to  promote  the  happiness  of  all  who  injure  you. 

Never  give  unnecessary  trouble  to  any  flimily  where  you 
may  lodge.  Be  polite  to  children. and  servants.  Observe  family 
rules,  and  beware  of  being  abroad  at  a  late  hour. 

Consider  manly  exercise  as  an  important  duty  in  which 
you  may  serve  God.  This  will  contribute  much  to  the  pre- 
servation of  your  health,  and  will  defend  you  against  hypo- 
chondriac affections,  which  destroy  the  spring  of  animal  spirits, 
and  make  one  useless  and  ridiculous. 

These  things  deserve  your  attention,  but  the  following  ad- 
vices are  of  much  more  importance  : — 

Keep  your  eye  constantly  on  the  state  of  your  soul,  the 
principles  which  govern  your  conduct,  and  the  great  realities  of 
Eternity,  some  of  which  will  soon  be  the  objects  of  your  ex- 
perience. To  be  a  Christian,  and  to  live  as  a  Christian,  is  the 
sum  of  your  happiness  and  of  your  duty. 

Never  neglect  the  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the 
manner  to  which  you  have  been  accustomed.  Be  attentive  to 
every  part  of  your  Bible,  especially  to  the  Pentateuch,  the 
Psalms,  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,. 
E^ekiel,  Daniel,  and  Zachariah,  and  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament.  Make  short  annotations  on  what  you  read.  Mark 
those  texts  which  touch  your  heart,  and  while  tlie  impressions 
of  them  are  fresh,  prepare  schemes  of  discourses  upon  them. 

Be  very  attentive  to  the  system    used  in  the    University, 
and  while  you   read  it,   have  Turrictine's  Institution,  and  the 
Usher,  and  Brown's  Bodies  of  Divinity  open  before  3^ou. 
'6 


34  ORIENTAL   AND   CLASSICAL   LANGUAGES. 

Be  very  exact  in  studying  the  Deistical,  Socinian,  and 
Arminian  Controversies.  Let  it  be  your  principal  care  to  be 
able  to  state  the  doctrines  of  religion  in  a  simple  and  perspicu- 
ous manner;  this  you  will  find  to  be  the  most  effectual  means 
of  enervating  objections,  and  opposing  error.  Do  not  embarrass 
yourself  with  a  great  variety  of  systems,  nor  with  speculations 
about  things  which  cannot  be  understood  in  this  world,  and 
perhaps  will  remain  mysteries  in  the  world  to  come.  Make  as 
great  progress  as  possible  in  your  systematical  reading  during 
the  first  year  after  your  arrival  in  Scotland,  and  review  what 
you  shall  have  read  in  the  second.  Study  systems  in  a  prac- 
tical manner.  Remember  that  you  are  deeply  interested  in 
every  doctrine  of  Christianity,  and  that  even  Divinity  will  be 
useless  to  your  own  soul,  and  the  souls  of  others,  if  it  is  con- 
sidered only  as  an  object  of  speculation. 

In  your  first  year  at  Edinburgh,  prepare  twelve  short, 
practical  sermons,  twenty  in  the  second. 

Observe  the  method  of  the  ablest,  the  most  pious  and  ac- 
curate preachers.  Write  the  substance  of  their  discourses  when 
you  are  at  home  ;  but  beware  of  a  servile  imitation  of  any 
preacher. 

Be  very  intent  on  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language,  for 
three  or  four  months,  and  make  yourself  well  acquainted  with 
its  grammar.  When  you  shall  be  able  to  understand  the 
Hebrew  Scri})tures  with  some  case  I  wish  you  to  attend  as  the 
professor  directs  to  the  Arabic,  Syriac,  and  Chaldaic,  especially 
the  Arabic,  as  much  at  least  as  will  enable  you  to  make  })ro- 
gress  in  the  study  of  them,  after  you.  shall  leave  the  University. 
While  you  are  engaged  in  these  exercises,  it  will  be  proper  to 
read  Leusdeni  Philologus. 

Do  not  however,  neglect  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  French 
languages.  Be  a  classical  critic.  Read  some  of  Plato's  works, 
and  make  notes  on  what  you  read.  In  a  particular  manner 
attend  to  the  purity  of  your  own  language.  Lay  in  a  store  of 
classical  words,  that  you  may  be  able  to  express  your  senti- 
ments on  any  subject,  and  on  any  occasion,  with  propriety  and 
ease.  In  order  to  do  this,  labour  to  have  clear  ideas  of  things. 
Endeavour  to  acquire  the  habit  of  speaking  in  a  plain,  neat, 
unaffected  style.     Avoid  bombast  and  vulgarity.     Seldom  let 


READING   AND    EXERCISE.  35 

the  proud  monosyllable  l,  have  the  place  in  your  compositions 
or  discourses.  Accustom  yourself  to  read  aloud,  as  one  of  the 
best  means  to  fit  you  for  public  speaking.  Be  accurate  in  all 
your  compositions. 

Eead  with  great  care  the  Fathers  of  the  three  first  centuries, 
and  the  Apostolical  Constitutions.  In  these  you  will  find  many 
jewels,  mixed  with  much  rubbish.  Observe  the  exposition  they 
give  of  the  Scriptures  and  what  views  they  had  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  and  of  the  person  and  office  of  the  Eedeemer. 
Write  your  remarks  upon  them ;  this  will  save  much  time  in 
the  future  periods  of  life. 

Make  much  use  of  Prideaux  Connections.  Be  very  exact 
in  reading  the  history  of  the  Church,  till  you  come  to  the  des- 
truction of  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna.  Eead  with  attention, 
but  not  with  explicit  faith,  the  Ecclesiastical  Histories  of  Euse- 
bius,  Socrates,  Evagrius,  Mosheim,  and  Spanheim,  to  which 
you  may  add  Sigonius  de  regno  Italiae,  de  Occidentali  Imperio, 
and  Ockley's  History  of  the  Saracens, 

As  a  relief  from,  severe  study  read  some  books  of  rational 
amusement,  and  make  the  tour  of  the  world,  in  some  short  and 
well  written  General  Geography. 

That  you  may  not  fall  into  confusion,  and  give  unnecessary 
fatigue  to  your  mind,  make  a  prudent  distribution  of  your 
time.  If  you  sleep  only  seven  hours  in  one  day,  you  will  have 
seventeenhours  for  devotion,  for  study,  and  for  exercise.  Let 
me  again  recommend  to  you  the  strictest  attention  to  exer 
cise.  It  may  sometimes  be  necessary  to  lay  aside  study  for  a 
week  or  two,  and  to  make  an  excursion  into  the  country  on 
horseback. 

Let  it  be  your  care  to  acquire  authority  over  your  own 
mind,  that  with  ease  you  may  be  able  to  apply  yourself  to  any 
branch  of  study. 

If  God  shall  be  pleased  to  put  you  into  the  ministry,  pre- 
pare your  discourses  with  great  accuracy.  Let  this  be  the  prin- 
cipal business  of  the  morning  of  every  day.  Do  not  put  it  off 
till  the  end  of  the  week.  This  would  be  to  trifle  with  the 
Gospel  and  the  souls  of  men  ;  persevere  in  accurate  preparation 
till  the  40th  or  45th  year  of  your  age.  Superficial  study  and 
writing,  in  3'outh,  make  a  poor  old  man.     Be  not  however  a 


36  SERMONIZING   AND   PREACHING. 

slave  to  your  compositions ;  exercise,  but  do  not  overcharge 
your  memory.  Go  to  the  pulpit  so  far  possessed  of  your  notes, 
as  to  be  able  to  speak  with  dignity,  propriety,  and  ease. 

Fill  your  discourses  with  useful  matter.  A  multitude  of 
words  without  sentiments,  or  with  sentiments  not  adapted  to 
the  pulpit,  insult  a  grave  worshipping  assembl}'".  Let  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  be  your  principal  subjects. 
Do  not  however  neglect  morality,  but  see  that  you  enforce  it 
chiefly  by  arguments  drawn  from  redeeming  grace.  Give  faith 
and  obedience  their  proper  places.  Reason  closel}',  but  with 
as  little  appearance  of  reasoning  as  is  possible  for  3'ou:  give  a 
practical  turn  to  your  argumentf,  and  never  abuse  those  who 
are  of  a  contrary  opinion. 

Have  short  introductions.  State  the  sense  and  connexion 
of  the  text  with  great  precision.  Let  your  method  be  natural, 
arising  out  of  the  subject.  Be  concise  in  the  doctrinal  part, 
that  you  may  not  be  hurried  in  the  application.  Never  depart 
wantonl}^  from  our  translation,  and  if  at  anj^  time  you  shall  find 
it  necessary  to  alter  it,  do  it  with  great  modesty,  and  without 
amusing  the  hearers  with  Latin,  Greek,  or  Hebrew  words.  Do 
not  meddle  with  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  which  we 
commonly  call  lecturing,  for  two  years  at  least  after  you  have 
appeared  in  a  public  character.  Meanwhile  prepare  yourself 
for  it,  by  a  diligent  reading,  and  close  attention  to  the  connex- 
ions of  Scripture.  When  you  begin  it,  select  such  passages  as 
have  a  peculiar  fitness  for  fixing  impressions  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  the  hearers.  Let  this  be  your  practice  for  one  year. 
After  that  you  may  expound  a  chapter,  or  a  book,  as  you  shall 
think  will  be  most  for  edification. 

Endeavour  to  acquire  the  command  of  your  voice.  Never 
speak  louder  than  is  necessary,  unless  some  Divine  impulse  lay 
a  necessity  upon  you.  Screaming  and  bawling  disgrace-  the 
pulpit.  Despise  theatrical  airs.  Lot  your  actions  be  easy  and 
natural.     Hate  affectation. 

llise  above  the  frowns  and  applause  of  men.  Consider  your 
hearers  as  your  fellow  thinners,  and  your  fellow  mortals,  and 
realize  the  })re3ence  of  the  searcher  of  hearts.  Be  serious  and 
pointed,  and  you  will  command  attention.  Preach  to  yourself, 
and  you  will  preach  well  to  others. 


CLERICAL   CONDUCT — JUDICATORIES.  37 

Often  read  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus.  Travail  as 
in  birth  till  Christ  be  formed  in  souls. 

AVhen  settled  in  a  congregation,  begin  your  ministry  with 
great  modesty,  affection,  and  faithfulness.  The  first  days  of  a 
man's  ministry  have  frequently  been  found  to  be  his  best  days. 
Endeavour  to  grow,  that  your  profiting  may  appear  to  all. 

Be  very  circumspect  in  your  life.  Let  your  conversation 
on  all  occasions  proclaim  the  sincerity  of  your  heart,  and  exem- 
]_)rify  the  salutary  tendencies  of  the  doctrine  you  deliver  to 
others. 

Be  very  solemn  in  speaking  to  persons  who  desire  baptism 
for  their  children,  or  admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  never 
dispense  those  privileges  to  an}',  without  the  advice  of  your 
Session. 

Consider  that  faithfulness  in  catechising  young  people,  who,  are 
the  hope  of  the  Church,  and  visiting  the  poor  and  the  afflicted 
are  some  of  the  most  important  duties  that  will  be  incumbent 
upon  you. 

Never  attach  3'ourself  to  any  party  in  your  congregation^ 
nor  suffer  any  differences  among  the  people  to  come  before  the 
Session  till  every  previous  means  of  composing  them  shall  fail. 
AVhatever  unfavourable  opinion  you  may  have  of  any  of  your 
hearers,  keep  it  locked  up  in  your  own  mind.  If  any  of  them 
shall  treat  you  in  an  unbecoming  manner,  take  no  notice  of  it, 
but  pray  for  them,  and  do  your  duty  to  them,  as  though  they 
had  not  displeased  you.  Discourage  tale  bearers,  and  never 
point  your  discourses  at  individuals. 

As  the  general  interests  of  religion  are  much  influenced  by 
judicial  proceedings,  let  it  now  be  your  care  to  prepare  yourself 
for  acting  your  part  therein.  Attend  the  meetings  of  the 
General  Assembly,  the  Commission  of  the  Assembly,  Synods, 
and  Presbyteries  of  the  National  Church,  and  also  the  Judica- 
tories of  the  Seceders,  as  you  shall  have  opportunity.  Consider 
Church  discipline' as  an  important  subject  of  study.  Buy  the 
Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Acts  of  the  Synod  of 
Dort;  you  have  the  Acts  of  the  National  Synod  of  France  in 
the  Library.  When  you  shall  be  called  to  act  as  a  member 
of  a  Church  Judicatory,  do  not  speak  often,  nor  make  long 
speeches,  but  be  decisive  when  you  speak.     When  differences 


38  ARRIVAL   IN   SCOTLAND. 

happen  among  ministers,  be  a  peace-maker.  Never  be  a  party- 
man.  Durham  on  Scandal  will  contribute  much  to  make  you 
a  good  disciplinarian. 

Thus  I  have  given  jou  a  few  advices.  I  wish  my  time  had 
permitted  me  to  polish  and. extend  them.  Receive  them  as 
they  are.  They  are  an  effusion  of  the  heart  of  an  affectionate 
parent.  More  will  be  occasionally  sent  to  you,  if  life  and 
health  are  preserved. 

I  commend  you  to  God,  and  to  the  word  of  His  grace;  may 
His  good  spirit  instruct  you,  and  you  will  be  happily  directed. 
Your  best  interests  are  near  the  heart  of  your  father, 

JOHN  MASON. 

Eead  these  advices  once  a  month,  carefully  preserve  them  as  a 
memorial  of  me.  They  may  be  of  use  to  you,  even  in  old  age. 
Don't  be  discouraged  when  so  much  work  is  cut  out  for  you- 
Method,  perseverance,  due  exercise,  and,  above  all.  Divine 
assistance,  will  enable  you  to  do  much  more,  with  great  ease. 

J.  M. 

He  arrived  in  Scotland  early  in  the  summer  of  1791,  and  on 
reaching  Edinburgh  was  invited  to  the  house  of  his  uncle,  Ebe- 
nezer  Mason,  a  very  respectable  merchant  of  that  city,  from 
whom  he  ever  received  strong  proofs  of  affection,  and  the  best 
acts  of  friendship,  and  who  in  turn  was  exceedingly  loved  and 
revered  by  his  nephew. 

But  few  written  memorials  of  this  interesting  period  have 
been  preserved.  The  fragments  of  diary  and  correspondence, 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  do  little  but  impress  us  with  the 
value  of  what  we  have  lost.  In  addition  to  professional  asso- 
ciation, he  formed  acquaintance  with  some  persons  who  were 
ornaments  of  literature  in  a  place  and  an  age  of  literary  emi- 
nence, and  was  admitted  to  such  society  as  both  excites  and 
feeds  desires  for  improvement.  He  placed  a  higli  value  upon 
the  friendshii)  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  John  Erskinc ;  as  also  upon  tlic 
Lectures  of  Professor  Dugald  Stewart,  whom  he  considered  one 
of  the  most  eloquent  speakers  that  he  ever  heard. 

His  earliest  letter  from  Scotland,  that  has  been  preserved,  is 
addressed  to  his  sister  Mar2:aretta  : — 


JOURNEY  TO   EDINBURGH.  39 

Edixbuugu,  July  23,  1791. 

•  My  Dear  Sister:  It  will  give  you  pleasure  to  hear  (as 
you  must  already  have  heard  from  the  letter  I  wrote  to  papa), 
that  I  landed  in  good  health,  and  good  spirits.  You  will  be 
curious  to  know  next  (for  young  ladies  are  always  curious), 
what  kind  of  a  journey  I  made  to  Edinburgh,  and  what  ad- 
ventures I  met  with  on  the  road.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  jogged 
on,  as  I  do  in  most  of  my  peregrinations,  very  quietly;  and  saw 
but  little,  except  in  the  towns,  to  interest  an  ordinary  traveller. 
Variety  indeed  there  was ;  but  it  was  the  variety  of  hills  and 
valleys,  rocks  and  ponds,  of  sunshine  and  rain.  However,  a 
person  of  romantic  disposition  would  not  have  been  at  a  loss 
for  subjects  to  exercise  his  imagination.  I  was  musing,  with 
some  degree  of  vexation  on  the  vast  difference  of  ranks  in  this 
countFy,  and  the  haughty  demeanour  of  titled  petulance,  when 
my  mind  was  relieved  by  adverting  to  a  very  novel  scene,  in 
which  familiar  simplicity  and  condescending  sociality  were 
carried  as  far  as  they  can  well  be  carried.  Near  a  rock  by  the 
wayside,  stood  a  low  thatched  cottage.  The  cheerfulness  and 
healthy  appearance  of  some  children  at  the  door  drew  my 
notice.  I  observed  the  cottage  divided  into  two  apartments. 
One  of  these  was  occupied  by  the  mistress  of  the  family,  her 
children,  the  dog  and  cat,  and  a  division  of  the  fowls.  The 
other  was  possessed  by  the  rest  of  the  fowls  and  the  family  cow. 
Perhaps  I  may  err  in  a  circumstance  or  two,  but  the  fact  is  sub- 
stantially as  3'ou  have  it.  Well,  thought  I,  mankind  will 
always  be  in  extremes.  If  some  of  the  noble  were  mixed  with 
such  plebeian  ingredients,  the  compound  would  form  a  happy 
medium  for  common  life. 

So  much  for  the  journey.  I  had  heard  a  great  deal  about 
Scotch  reserve  and  austerity  ;  but  should  do  the  people  injus- 
tice, were  I  not  to  say,  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  be  treated 
by  strangers  with  more  attention,  friendship  and  affection,  than 
I  have  experienced,  and  still  experience  from  them. 

This  kindness  in  a  foreign  land,  is  not  the  least  of  the 
mercies  with  which  God  has  favoured  us.  Oh,  my  sister,  how 
small  are  our  returns  of  gratitude  for  that  goodness  which  has 
followed  us  from  our  birth  till  this  moment !  Long  have  we 
been  objects  of  God's  paternal  care.     He  has  heaped  his  bless- 


40  SPIRITUAL   VICISSITUDES. 

ings  upon  us;  He  has  offered  to  us  a  great  salvation  ;  He  has 
borne  with  our  rebellions,  and  has  not  caused  Uis  wrath  to 
smoke  against  us ;  and  He  still  proclaims  peace  and  pardon 
through  the  blood  of  Jesus.  May  we  not  withhold  from  Him 
the  returns  which  He  nsks  ! 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

JNO.  M.  MASON. 

During  his  sojourn  at  his  uncle's,  he  was  frequently  the 
subject  of  very  distressing  apprehensions  respecting  his  own 
spiritual  state  and  prospects.  Frequently  was  he  heard  in  his 
retired  chamber  to  be  engaged  in  the  deepest  exercises  of  mind 
under  the  fear  of  having  committed  the  unpardonable  sin. 
The  doctrine  of  election  likewise,  under  an  erroneous  view  of 
it,  as  he  afterwards  learned,  caused  him  the  greatest  distress. 
One  still  living  remembers  his  walking  the  floor  of  his' room 
and  wringing  his  hands  in  misery.  Some  of  the  anguish  which  . 
at  such  times  he  suffered,  as  well  as  the  manner  in  which  at 
times  he  emerged  from  the  gloom,  is  indicated  by  such  parts  of 
his  diary  as  here  follow  : — 

"  Edinbcrgh,  August  8th,  1791. 

"  There  have  been  strange  vicissitudes  in  my  spiritual  state 
since  I  last  wrote  the  condition  of  my  mind.  Strange  assaults 
of  temptation,  though  more  of  the  alluring,  than  of  the  terrify- 
ing kind — strange  coldness  and  deadness  of  heart  in  religious 
exercises — strange  risings  of  corruption  against  the  holy  law  of 
God — strange  alienation  of  affection  from  Him — strange  back- 
sliding in  practice — strange  indifference  to  God's  blessed  word 
— Strange  callousness  of  conscience — strange  insensibility  to  the 
wonders  of  redeeming  love — and  strange  stoops  of  sovereign 
grace  in  reclaiming  me  again.  Oh,  what  a  heart  is  mine!  how 
full  of  all  uncleanness !  how  prone  to  depart  from  the  living 
God  !  Surely,  it  is  nothing  but  Almighty  grace  that  keeps  me 
from  becoming  a  downright  apostate  !  And,  oh  !  let  me  sing 
the  honours  of  that  love  which  has  once  more  touched  my  heart ! 

"I  was  engaged  in  reading  an  account  of  the  conversion  of 
Mr.  Sherriff — but  ah  !  what  pangs  did  I  feel !  My  very  soul 
had  like  to  have  burst.  I  could  do  little  more  than  groan  and 
weep,  all  the  time  I  was  reading  it.     I  know  not  why  it  should 


THE   PRISONER   RELEASED.  41 

be  so.  God's  dealings  are  sovereign,  and  lie  handles  one 
sinner  very  differently  from  another;  but  the  views  which  Mr. 
S.  had  of  the  deceitfalness  and  wickedness  of  his  own  heart — 
and  of  the  glory  and  falness  of  the  exalted  Saviour,  his  holy 
life,  his  evangelical  frame — his  warm  love  to  the  souls  of  men, 
and  ardent  zeal  for  the  honour  of  Christ,  shed  through  me  a 
freezing  horror,  lest  I  should  be  found  a  self  deceiver.  I 
finished  the  narrative — I  rose  from  my  seat — and  in  an  agony 
of  grief  and  fear,  sobbed  till  I  could  scared}^  breathe.  AVrung 
with  anguish,  I  walked  across  my  room,  and  many  distressing 
thoughts  crowded  into  my  mind.  I  attempted  to  pour  out  my 
complaint  in  prayer,  but  my  mouth  was  shut — I  was  dismally 
apprehensive  that  all  was  not  right  with  me — that  there  was 
some  corner  of  my  heart  yet  full  of  abominations  unseen  and 
unforgiven,  I  cast  myself  prostrate  on  my  face  before  the 
throne  of  God,  unable  to  utter  a  single  petition.  A  voice 
seemed  to  say  to  my  soul,  '  Arise,  and  stand  upon  thy  feet,  and 
it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  shalt  do.'  I  immediately  arose, 
and  felt  a  strong  inclination  to  read  a  part  of  my  Bible — met 
with  that  passage,  '  A  bruised  reed  will  he  not  break,  and 
smoking  flax  will  he  not  quench,  till  he  send  forth  judgment 
unto  victory.'  Sweet,  heavenly  words  !  I  started  in  transport 
— I  exclaimed,  'Then  he  is  «??/ Saviour!  he  is  assuredly  my 
Saviour !'  Oh,  how  beautiful  was  Jesus  Christ  in  all  his 
offices  !  I  clearly  saw  that  He  must  be  the  eternal  God,  or  it 
is  in  vain  to  hope  in  him.  I  saw  that  I  cannot  be  saved 
without  the  Holy  Spirit's  enabling  me  to  receive  him,  in  all  his 
offices.  I  saw,  I  see,  that  unconnected  with  him,  the  sweetest, 
richest  promises  of  the  Gospel  are  dry  and  cheerless ;  but  con- 
nected witli  him,  0,  how  savory,  how  consolatory^  how  re- 
freshing! I  find  my  soul  pointing  towards  him,  and  turning 
with  disgust,  with  shame,  with  hatred,  with  horror,  from  all  sin. 

"  September  22d.  The  Christian  life  is  well  compared  to  a 
warfare  !  Oh,  how  hard  a  warfare !  It  is  one  of  the  sovereign  dis- 
pensations of  God's  providence,  by  which  he  permits  his  people  to 
be  assaulted  with  the  fiercest  attacks,  directly  after  the  most  com- 
fortable frame.  I  was  meditating  with  great  delight  on  that  sweet 
passage,  'Ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One ;'  but  never  did 


42  AGAIN   IN   BONDAGE. 

corruptions  more  rage  thati  shortly  after  this  heavenly  exercise 
— my  soul  almost  sunk  under  their  power.      My  feet  well  nigh 
slipped,      I  am  but  jast  learning  the  meaning  of   what    the 
Redeemer  long  ago  told  me,  that  Satan  had  desired  to  have  me, 
that  he  anight  sift  me  as  wheat.     No  mortal  can  tell  the  depths  of 
iniquity  which  are  in  my  heart — how  prone  I  am  to  depart 
from  the  living  God.     0!    wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  this  body  of  death?  I  know  not  why  the  Lord 
leaves  me  to  be  thus  tossed  with  temptation,  unless  it  be  to  try 
me  in  the  fire  of  affliction — to  lead  me  through  much  tribula- 
tion, and  thus  make  me  to  his  people  a  son  of  consolation,  or  he 
may  design  to  punish  my  unholiness  of  heart,  and  untenderness 
of  life — he  may  be  forming  me  for  sanctuary  service,  by  making 
me  acquainted  with  ray  own  depravity,  and  the  wiles  of  the 
Devil.     He  certainly  means  to  embitter  sin  to  me — to  keep  me 
closer  to  himself — to  exalt  precious  Christ  and  free  grace  in  my 
estimation — and  to  let  me  see  the  value  of  his  paternal  care. 
If  he  did  not  keep  under  me  the  everlasting  arms,  what  would 
become  of  my  soul?     Free  grace  !     Let  me  shout  its  honours  ! 
It  must  be  sovereign  indeed,  or  it  would  never  have  fixed  on 
me.     But,  Lord,  thy  servant  is  an  earthen  vessel,  and  cannot 
stand  such  rude  shocks.     Yet  I  bless  the  glorious  Saviour  that 
I  have  found  him  as  good  as  his  word,  /  have  prayed  for  thee, 
that  thy  faith  fail  not.     He  has  curbed  the  roaring  lion — he  has 
hushed  the  troubled  sea — and  still  the  Lord  is  my  portion,  saith 
my  soul.     I  have  now  an  additional  motive  to  love  him,  for  he 
hath  heard  my  prayer — and,  truly,  it  is  good  to  wait  for  him. 
I  hope  yet  to  renew  my  strength,  to  mount  up  with  wings  as  an 
eagle — to  be  more  than  a  conqueror  through  him  that  loveth 
me.     Oh,  who  can  tell  the  privilege  of  going  to  the    throne  of 
grace,  but  they  whose  fainting  spirits  have  been  supported  by 
the  help   which  their  God    has  sent  in   answer  to   their  cry, 
from  His  holy  hill  ?     Praised,   forever  praised,   be  his  name ' 
Though  I  be  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  I  will  go  in  his 
strength  ;  I  will  make  mention  of  his  righteousness.     His  word 
shall  be  my  joy  in  the  house  of  my  pilgrimage  !" 

"  NoVEMBKK  lOth.     This  day  being  set  apart  as  a  day  of 
fasting  and  humiliation  previously  to  celebrating  the  sacrament 


REFLECTIONS  ON  ENTERING  THE  HALL.         43 

of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  the  cburclies  of  Edinburgh,  I  thought 
it  would  not  be  improper  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of  observ- 
ing a  part  of  it,  in  that  way,  on  a  private  account. 

"  Two  reasons  strongly  urged  this  step — the  awful  power  of 
indwelling  sin  joined  to  the  violent  temptations  of  Satan  ;  and 
the  prospect  of  commencing,  in  a  few  days,  my  theological 
studies  at  the  Divinity  Ilall. 

"It  is  not  more  than  two  or  three  weeks  since  the  Lord  was 
pleased  to  visit  me  with  a  gentle  chastisement.  He  soon 
removed  his  hand  and  restored  me  to  health.  But,  ah!  where 
has  been  my  gratitude?  Where  the  sanctiiication  of  my 
trouble?  Instead  of  serving  with  more  holiness  and  zeal  the 
God  of  my  mercies,  my  heart  has  been  more  hard  and  obsti- 
nate ;  my  conversation  more  un tender.  Surely  the  Scripture 
says  true,  in  pronouncing  the  heart  of  man  to  be  'deceitful 
above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked.'  All  within  me  was 
dark,  and  dreary  and  horrible.  And  to  complete  the  judgment, 
Satan  was  let  loose  upon  me.  He  had  been  striving  hard  to 
shake  my  faith  in  that  all-important  doctrine,  the  supreme 
divinitv  of  the  Lord  Christ.  The  question  has  been  shot  into 
my  mind,  and  diffused  through  it  a  freezing  horror — What  if  I 
be  mistaken?  what  if  Jesus  Christ  is  but  a  man  ?  Where  then 
are  all  my  hopes  for  eternity?  But,  blessed  be  Jehovah,  he  has 
not  cast  me  off,  nor  permitted  me  to  be  a  prey  to  the  lion's 
teeth.  Though  Satan  has  tried  more  than  once  to  make  me  a 
Socinian,  a  Deist,  an  Atheist,  Jesus  had  compassion  on  me, 
and  succoured  me  in  the  critical  moment.  I  can  see,  indeed, 
several  just  reasons  for  which  he  may  have  permitted  the  ad- 
versary of  my  peace  to  have  thus  distressed  me,  such  as,  sport- 
ing with  temptations.  Although  I  have  found,  by  experience, 
the  bitterness  of  sin  ;  and  know  hov/  the  Devil  cheats  those  who 
listen  to  his  suggestions  ;  and  although  the  word  of  life  held  up 
its  authority,  and  conscience  cried  out  against  my  rebellion; 
yet  I  was  too  regardless  of  both. 

"2.  A  partiality  to  flivourite  lusts.  0  God  !  how  have  these 
Canaanites  thrust  thorns  into  my  eyes,  and  daggers  into  my 
heart,  and  yet  how  have  I  cherished  them  ! 

"3.  Listlessness,  and  indifference,  and  formality  in  the  ser- 
vice of  God. 


44  god's  sovereign  goodness. 

"  4.  Uiifrequent  messages  to  the  throne  of  grace,  leaning  too 
much  upon  my  own  understanding,  and  my  own  strength. 

"5.  Unlaithfahiess  to  my  covenant-vows.  How  often  liave 
I  sworn  to  be  the  Lord's,  and  yet  acted  as  though  I  had  never 
professed  His  name  !  I  have  promised,  and  broken  my  pro- 
mise— and  j-jromised  again,  and  again  broken  it ;  and  thus  I 
have  gone  on  promising  and  breaking  my  promise  alternately. 
The  Lord  forgive  my  atrocious  perfidy  ! 

"6.  Above  all,  the  great  sin  of  neglecting  to  improve  Jesus 
Christ— of  looking  too  much  at  myself,  and  at  the  law,  and  so 
little  at  his  sin-crucifying  cross.  Adorable  Jesus,  I  have  now 
peculiar  need  of  Thy  kind  interposition,  for  I  am  about  to  be 
enrolled  as  one  who  intends  not  to  preach  an  unknown  Sa- 
viour !  Let  me  not  hold  the  torch  of  thy  Word  by  showing 
others  the  way  to  the  gate  of  heaven,  while  that  gate  shall  be 
shut  upon  myself!  Let  me  not  double  my  damnation,  by  pro- 
claiming peace  and  pardon  through  the  blood  of  Jesus,  while  I 
am  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  bond  of  iniquit}^ !  Jesus,  I 
throw  myself  upon  thee,  and  hang  my  soul  on  thy  promise, 
*  Him  that  coraeth  to  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.'  " 

"November,  12th,  179L  Truly  God  is  a  sovereign  God. 
I  have  found  him  so,  in  all  his  dealings  with  me.  lie  smites 
with  the  rod  of  his  chastisements,  and  visits  with  the  light  of 
his  countenance  as  he  pleases.  But,  oh  !  his  own  time  is  the 
best  time,  and  ho  suits  his  providence,  in  adorable  wisdom,  to 
the  necessiiies  of  his  people.  What  more  gracious,  "what  more 
suitable,  than  to  testify  his  love  to  me,  after  I  have  been  long 
harassed  with  temptation,  tossed  by  corruption,  dragged  from 
the  path  of  his  connnandments,  and  almost  inclined  to  believe 
that  he  had  given  me  up  to  the  lusts  of  my  own  heart  ?  I  ad- 
mire his  leading  me  to  hear  this  day,  contrary  to  ni}'  intentions, 
Mr.  Black,  one  of  his  faithful  servants.  He  preached  from 
Ueb.  ii.  10  :  '  For  it  became  him,  for  whom  are  all  things,  and 
by  whom  are  all  tilings,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to 
make  the  caj)tain  of  their  salvation  perfect,  through  suffering.' 
How  strongly  appeared  to  my  mind  the  Deity  of  Jesus ! 
Surely  he  is  God,  for  who  but  Jehovah  could  bear  the  weight 
of  Jehovah's  wrath  ?     Precious,   invaluable  truth  !     It  is  the 


THE   LIGHT   OF   HIS   COUNTENANCE.  45 

life  of  my  soul.  But  I  am  to  bless  God  for  showing  me  Jesus 
Christ,  not  only  as  an  almighty  Saviour,  but  as  my  Saviour. 
How  sweet— how  inexpressibly  sweet,  were  to  me  the  conso- 
lations of  his  Spirit  1  '  Fear  not,'  said  he,  '  I  am  thy  God'—'  I 
never  said  to  the  sons  of  Jacob,  Seek  ye  my  face  in  vain— I 
have  loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love,  therefore  with  loving- 
kindness  have  I  drawn  thee— I  give  unto  thee  eternal  life,  and 
none  shall  pluck  thee  out  of  my  hand.  For  a  small  moment 
have  I  forsaken  thee,  but  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather  thee. 
In  a  little  wrath,  I  hid  my  face  from  thee  for  a  moment,  but 
with  everlasting  kindness  will  I  have  mercy  upon  thee,  saith 
the  Lord  thy  Kedeemer.'— Is.  liv.  7,  8.  0,  how  lovely  was 
Christ ;  how  rich  his  fulness  ;  how  free  his  grace  !  Much  has 
been  said  of  him,  but  the  half  was  not  told  me.  I  know  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  that  he  is  able  to  keep  what  I  have  com. 
mitted  to  him.  He  has  answer^  my  fervent  prayer  to  have 
my  interest  in  the  blessings  of  his  purchase  manifested  to  my 
own  soul  before  I  enter  formally  upon  theological  studies." 

A  letter  dated  January  24,  1792,  to  his  friend  John  B.  John- 
son, (afterwards  a  distinguished  Minister  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  at  Albany,  N.  Y.),  is  not  without  considerable 
interest.  It  shows  what  patriotic  feelings  mingled  with  his 
religious  sentiments;  it  indicates  hopes  respecting  the  results 
of  the  French  Revolution,  which  he  was  compelled  by  subse- 
quent developments  to  relinquish,  and  such  as  were  entertained 
by  many  others  who  afterwards  felt  sadly  disappointed ;  and  at 
the  close,  touches  very  delicately  upon  a  tender  topic,  which 
will  be  readily  understood  by  all  the  friends  of  his  family. 
After  two  pages  of  playful  and  confidential  pleasantry,  he  re- 
marks : — 

I  wished  to  divert  you  a  little,  but  it  has  been  heavy  work. 
My  spirits  are  very  low  at  present.  This  you  can  testify  is  not 
commonly  the  case.  They  have  been  depressed  by  the  sad  in- 
telligence of  our  defeat  by  the  Indians:  six  hundred  men  and 
forty-four  officers!  The  reflection  wrings  my  heart.  The 
weapon  that  sheds  the  blood  of  my  countrymen,  pierces  my 
own  bosom. 

The  two  blows  we  have  received  are  a  punishment  for  our 


46  FRENCH   REVOLUTION. 

ingratitude  and  pride.  God  first  spoke  to  us  in  the  mild  accents 
of  mercy;  he  then  spoke  by  an  army  of  flies  which  he  ordered 
to  march  through  our  land,  and  cut  down  the  staff  of  life.  He 
gave  us  a  respite,  but  we  heard  not  his  voice.  He  now  ad- 
dresses us  in  the  thunder  of  a  desolating  war.  He  has  lifted 
his  scourge — he  has  smitten  us  twice — blood  has  followed  each 
stroke,  and  more  the  second  than  the  first.  When  will  Amer- 
icans listen?  When  will  they  be  humbled?  When  will  they 
turn  to  the  Lord  from  whom  they  have  deeply  revoked  ?  Oti, 
America,  America!  how  deep  is  thy  guilt!  Everyone  of  her 
citizens  should  ask  what  share  have  I  had  in  the  national  ini- 
quity? Individuals  compose  the  nation,  and  with  individuals 
repentance  must  begin. 

As  a  philanthropist,  you  will  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
French.  The  storm  which  threatened  to  burst  upon  them  will 
vanish,  I  hope,  in  smoke.  Should  the  neighbouring  princes  be 
mad  enough  to  attack  them,  revolutions  in  their  own  kingdoms 
will  probably  be  the  consequence.  I  wish  and  pTiiy,  that  the 
flame  of  liberty  may,  and  I  believe  it  will,  spread  till  it  kindle 
one  general  conflagration,  and  every  fragment  of  despotism 
shiver  in  the  blaze ! 

I  would  gladly  attend  to  other  important  parts  of  your  let- 
ter, but  am  unable  to  do  it  now.  Remember  me  respectfully 
to  all  who  make  inquiries,  particularly  to  our  good  friend  in 
Maiden  Lane.  You  did  not  tell  me,  an  literas  ostendisti,  quas 
ostenderes  rogavi.  Ccrte  equidem  mecum  reputavi,  initia  N. 
L.  nominis  atque  cognominis,  satis  esse  clara,  non  solum  ad 
eam,  quam  innuebam,  quasi  digito,  indicandam ;  sod  ad  multo 
pleura,  quam  cxpressa  crant,  dilucide  explicanda. 

Judge  whether  I  have  been  genteelly  treated :  nine  or  ten 
letters  to  which  I  expected  answers  have  never  been  noticed, 
lam  happy,  however,  dear  Johnson,  that  in  the  sweet  confidence 
of  reciprocal  friendship,  I  can  subscribe  myself,  yours  most  af- 
fectionately. 

J.  iM.  MASON. 

It  was  the  intention  of  his  father,  that,  to  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Hebrew  language,  should  be  added  an  ac- 
quaintance with  its  cognates,  the  Syriac  and  Arabic;  and  that 
for  this  purpose,  after  finishing   his  course  in  Scotland,   he 


HIS  FATHERS   ILLNESS,  47 

sliould  avail  himself  of  the  best  advantages  afforded  by  institu- 
tions on  the  Continent.  This  plan,  however,  was  abandoned  in 
consequence  of  an  event  which  hastened  his  return  home. 

The  first  intimation  which  he  received  of  the  precarious  con- 
dition of  his  father's  health,  was  contained  in  the  following  let- 
ter. We  find  it  with  this  filial  endorsement:  "  The  last  letter 
of  a  father,  such  as  few  have  the  happiness  of  enjoying,  writ- 
ten twenty-live  days  before  his  decease,  on  the  19th  April, 
1792."  The  gentleman  referred  to  in  the  first  sentence  was 
the  British  Consul,  a  neighbour  and  friend  of  its  author. 

TO  MR.  JOHN  M.  MASON,  EDINBURGH 

New  York  March,  24,   1702. 

My  dear  Boy  :  I  sent  you  a  letter  by  the  last  packet  which, 
having  been  enclosed  in  Sir  John  Temple's  dispatches,  I  hope 
you  received  free.  In  the  first  part  of  that  letter  there  were 
several  hints,  which  no  doubt  gave  you  pain,  though  they  pro- 
ceeded from  the  heart  of  an  affectionate  father.  I  retract  all 
these,  and  wish  you  to  be  easy  in  your  mind.  Your  letters  by 
Captain  Martin  made  us  all  very  happy.  From  your  way  of 
writing  about  some  leading  clerical  characters,  I  infer  that  you 
have  not  lost  your  relish  for  the  good  old  way.  This  makes 
my  heart  glad.  Dr.  Erskine's  account  of  you  to  Dr.  Eodgers, 
and  even  the  Principal's  account  to  Sir  John  Temple,  increased 
our  joy.  Speak  sparingly  at  Edinburgh  about  those  gentlemen, 
who  appear  to  you  to  be  the  reverse  of  what  they  should  be. 

My  indisposition,  of  which  I  gave  you  a  liint  in  my  last, 
still  remains,  and  is  very  obstinate.  I  may  soon  be  called  from 
this  world,  and  I  have  nothing  to  comfort  me  in  the  prospect 
of  such  an  event,  but  that  gospel  which  I  preached  to  others. 
Though  I  should  recover  the  present  shock,  I  fear  my  con- 
stitution will  be  so  broken  that  I  will  not  be  able  to  do  much 
in  public  works.  I  must,  therefore,  drop  all  the  plans  which  I 
had  projected  for  your  further  improvement  in  Europe,  and 
earnestly  request  you  to  return  with  Captain  Martin  in  the  fall, 
or  sooner  if  you  can,  in  any  vessel  bound  for  this  or  a  neigh- 
bouring port.  To  enforce  this  request,  it  is  proper  to  inform 
you  that  the  corporation  of  the  church,  who  have  just  now  left 
me,  concur  therein,  and  that  probably  a  letter  will  soon  come 


48  DIRECTIONS   FOR  HIS   RETURNING  HOME. 

to  you  from  the  Session.     You  are,  therefore,  m}^  son,  in  very 
critical  circumstances,  but  God  will  direct  and  assist  you. 

While  you  are  in  Scotland  be  as  dili^^ent  as  justice  to  your 
health  will  permit  you.  Bring  with  you  University  certificates, 
and  if  you  can  decently  procure  general  recommendations  from 
Dr.  Erskine,  Mr.  Randall,  and  other  respectable  persons,  they 
will  be  of  use  to  you.  It  will  not  be  improper  to  take  out  a 
*  Master's  Degree'.at  Edinburgh.  You  may  expect  a  remittance 
of  about  £30  sterling  by  Captain  Martin.  This  is  all  that  can 
be  done  for  3'ou  at  present.  Bat  if  you  should  be  pinched  in 
preparing  for,  and  paying  your  passage,  3'ou  may  procure  a 
few  pounds  from  your  uncle  or  some  other  friend,  which  shall 
be  faithfully  repaid.  I  wish  I  had  it  in  my  power  to  enable 
you  to  purchase  more  books,  especially  those  of  Christian  anti- 
quity. Dr.  Erskine  will  assist  you  in  preparing  a  catalogue. 
Do  as  much  in  the  Hebrew  as  you  can,  and  I  wish  you  may  be 
able  at  least  to  read  the  Syriac  and  Arabic,  and  to  make  some 
use  of  the  lexicons.  Hasten  home,  my  son,  and  may  the  Lord 
make  you  a  workman  who  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed !  Prepare 
a  few  solemn  and  substantial  practical  discourses,  and  also  a 
popular  sermon,  and  an  exegesis  on  any  important  head  of  div- 
inity, to  be  delivered  at  the  Presbytery  upon  your  arrival  here. 
Your  professor  will  point  out  to  you  the  form  of  such  presbyte- 
rial  exercises.  Should  I  be  removed  before  you  arrive,  lose 
no  time,  but  after  refreshing  yourself,  and  seeing  your  friends, 
immediately  set  out  for  Salem,  where  a  presbytery  may  be  con- 
stituted by  Messrs.  Proudfit  and  Dunlnp,  for  the  purpose  of 
licensing  you.  The  minds  of  these  gentlemen  Vvill  be  prepared 
for  this.  Devote  all  the  time  you  can  to  reading  books  of  prac- 
tical divinity,  Boston,  Erskine,  Harvey,  the  Marrow  of  Modern 
Divinity,  and  the  Synod's  Catechism.  Your  mamma  and  sisters 
are  well,  and  long  to  see  you.     God  bless  you,  my  dear  child  ! 

Still  your  affectionate  father, 

JOHN  MASON. 

TO  MR.  EBENEZER  MASON. 

My  Dear  Brother  :  I  am  so  exhausted  that  I  can  scarcely 
write  a  few  lines  to  you.  I  am  under  the  hand  of  God,  who 
alone  knows  his  designs  respecting  me.     I  would  rely  upon 


COMFORTS  HIS  STEP- MOTHER.  49 

that  grace  wliicli  I  liave  long  preached  to  others.  Accept  my 
hearty  thanks  for  your  kindness  to  John.  The  Lord  reward 
you  and  bless  you  with  all  spiritual  blessings !  My  love  to  your 
consort,  to  whom  I  wish  the  best  of  blessings. 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

JOHN  MASON. 

Less  than  a  month  after  this,  the  decease  of  his  father  took 
place.  His  feelings  on  the  occasion  were  immediately  express- 
ed in  a  letter  to  his  beloved  step-mother : — 

TO  MRS.  SARAH  MASON. 

Edinburgh,  June  2d,  1792. 

My  Dear  Mother  :  I  received  yesterday,  the  letter  which 
brought  the  dreaded  intelligence  of  that  sore  affliction  with 
which  our  God  has  been  pleased  to  visit  us.  From  former  let- 
ters, indeed,  I  expected  nothing  else ;  but  no  expectation  can 
prevent  such  a  blow  from  being  severely  felt.  And  is  my 
father,  my  much  beloved  father,  gone  ?  I  own  the  Providence  is 
to  me  most  mysterious.  That  I  should  go  so  far  from  home  for 
the  purpose  of  fitting  myself  for  more  extensive  usefulness — 
that  I  should  have  my  plan  of  study  arranged — the  train  laid 
for  prosecuting  it — should  just  have  begun  fairly  to  follow  it — 
should  have  the  most  flattering  prospect  before  me, — and 
should  have  them  all  blasted  in  a  moment !  That  God  should 
strike  from  under  me  the  prop  of  my  youth,  at  the  very  season 
when  I  most  need  him— that  he  should  call  me,  as  I  plainly  see 
he  does,  to  public  work,  when  I  am  so  little  qualified  for  it ; 
and  am  such  a  dwarf  in  the  divine  life!  This,  indeed,  is  one 
of  his  strange  works.  But  though  it  is  wondrous  in  our  eyes, 
yet  let  us  remember,  it  is  the  doing  of  the  Lord.  0,  for  resig- 
nation to  the  divine  will !  Let  us  say  with  David,  '  We  will  be 
dumb,  we  will  not  open  our  mouths,  because  thou  didst  it.' 
Our  God  chastises  u?.  '0  !  our  Father,  whom  have  we  in  heaven 
but  thee?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  whom  we  desire  besides 
thee.  Our  flesh  and  our  hearts  may  fail,  but  God  is  the  strength 
of  our  hearts,  and  our  portion  forever.'  Dear  mother,  when  I 
look  at  the  blank  which  is  made  in  our  little  family,  and  at  the 
4 


50  PURPOSE   TO   RETURN   HOME.'' 

weighty  duties  whicli  lie  before  me,  I  find  support  in  nothing 
but  the  promises  of  the  everlasting  covenant ;  and  these  prom- 
ises, I  trust,  are  also  your  support  and  consolation.  A  father 
of  the  fatherless,  and  a  judge  of  the  widow,  is  God  in  his  habi- 
tation. Thy  maker  is  thy  husband,  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his 
name.  Widows  and  orphans  are  his  pecnlar  care.  And  is  he 
not  better  than  any  other  husband,  or  father?  Whatever  sense 
may  say,  faith  will  say,  yes.  Let  us  then  cast  our  burden  upon 
the  Lord  :  it  is  indeed  a  heavy  one,  and  therefore  we  have  the 
more  need  to  roll  it  upon  him  ;  heavy  as  it  is,  eternal  truth 
hath  sworn  to  sustain  both  it  and  us. 

Dearest  mother :  since  God  has  taken  from  \\s  my  revered 
father,  let  us,  whom  he  has  left  behind,  be  more  tenderly  af- 
fectionate to  one  another.  You  have  been  more  than  a  mother 
to  me;  and  I  should  be  worse  than  ungrateful,  were  it  not  one 
of  my  first  and  most  anxious  cares  to  make  up  to  you,  as  far  as 
I  can,  the  loss  of  my  f^ither — to  alleviate  all  your  sorrows,  and 
increase  all  your  comforts.  This  world  is  at  best  but  a  vale  of 
tears.  Let  us,  therefore,  study  to  strengthen  each  other  in  the 
good  ways  of  God.  Let  our  conversation  be  in  heaven,  so  that 
when  our  Lord  shall  call  us  hence,  we  may  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  die,  and  to  re-join,  in  His  everlasting  rest,  those  dear 
friends  who  have  gone  before  us. 

My  heart  warms  with  gratitude  to  those  who  have  shown 
any  attention  to  my  father.  Thank  such  of  them  as  you  may 
see,  in  my  name.  I  will  gladly  thank  them  in  person  when 
Providence  shall  restore  me  to  my  countrj'  and  friends. 

Perfectly  convinced  that  an  immediate  return  to  America 
is  my  indispensable  duty,  I  shall  make  no  dela3' ;  but,  if  the 
Lord  permit,  will  sail  with  Capt.  Martin,  who  is  hourly  ex- 
pected. 

Present  my  affectionate  compliments  to  all  our  relations 
and  friends  ;  and  believe  me,  dear  mother,  that  everything  that 
concerns  your  happiness  lies  very  near  the  heart  of 

Your  affectionate  son, 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

The  exercises  of  his  mind  at  this  juncture  may  be  further 
seen  in  the  following  extract  from  his  diary  : — 


REFLECTIONS   ON   HIS   BEREAVEMENT.  51 

"June  5,  1792.  The  ways  of  God  are  indeed  in  the  deep, 
and  his  footsteps  are  not  known.  The  whole  course  of  his 
providence  towards  me  has  been  marked  witli  sovereignty,  and 
often  with  myster3^  Many  times  he  has  sorely  chastised  me, 
but  his  hand  now  lies  heavier  upon  me  than  ever  before.  He 
took  from  me,  some  years  ago,  an  affectionate  and  pious  mother; 
and  he  has  now  taken  from  me  a  father — one  amongst  the  most 
valuable  that  ever  blessed  a  sou.  How  unsearchable  are  his 
judgments!  He  has  stricken  from  under  me  the  prop  of  my 
youth  at  the  very  period  when  I  most  need  his  support.  He 
has  blasted,  in  a  moment,  the  fairest  prospect  of  improvement, 
and  calls  me,  raw  and  unfit  as  I  am,  to  enter  upon  the  ministry 
of  reconciliation !  Inscrutable,  severe  visitation  !  I  desire 
humbly  to  submit,  and  to  adore  him  that  its  severity  is  temper- 
ed with  me^C3^  I  desire  to  feel  the  correction  which  deprives 
me  of  a  blessing  I  too  little  improved  !  I  desire  to  hear  the 
reproof  for  my  ingratitude  and  ray  sin,  and  that  the  fruit  of  this 
affliction  may  be  to  take  away  sin.  Too  little  have  I  attended 
to  the  former  strokes  of  his  rod.  Too  prone  was  I,  when  he 
smote  me,  to  go  on  frowardly  in  the  way  of  my  heart.  Lord, 
sanctify  thy  rod ! 

"I  bless  his  name,  however,  that  he  continued  my  father  so 
long  with  me ;  and  that  he  put  it  into  his  heart  to  leave  me  a 
number  of  excellent  written  advices  to  guide  my  conduct  in 
future  life.     May  he  bless  them  for  their  desired  end ! 

"  And  since  he  has  seen  fit  to  remove  him  from  a  Avorld  of  sin 
and  sorrow,  and  to  translate  him  to  glory,  I  would  bless  him 
for  that  also.  The  Lord,  I  see,  will  make  me  serve  him  in  his 
own  way.  By  ruining  my  favourite  schemes,  he  has  punished 
me  for  making  an  idol  of  human  preparation.  By  taking 
away  my  father,  he  has  punished  me  for  leaning  too  much  upon 
a  created  comfort.  And  now  I  am  fatherless  ;  I  have  none  to 
trust  in  but  himself.  I  will  therefore,  from  this  time,  cry  unto 
him,  '  Thou  art  my  father,  and  the  guide  of  my  youth.'  If  I 
know  myself,  the  motives  on  which  I  began  to  study  for  the 
ministr}^  were  pure.  And,  as  I  am  sure  that  I  do  not  now 
thrust  myself  into  it,  I  will  put  my  confidence  in  Jehovah. 
Here,  then,  poor  and  unfit,  and  weak  as  I  am,  I  devote  myself, 
my  time,  my  talents,  my  all,  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  min- 


52  SUBMISSION   AND  CONFIDENCE. 

istry  of  liis  Son.  I  dare  not,  I  will  not  undertake  it,  in  my 
own  strength ;  but  surely  the  grace  of  Christ  is  sufficient  for 
me — his  strength  can  be  made  perfect  in  my  weakness. 

"  I  wish  not  to  be  distracted  with  a  sinful  anxiety  about 
future  progress,  in  things  temporal  or  spiritual.  I  wish  to  cast 
upon  the  Redeemer,  as  the  husband  of  the  widow,  the  care  of 
my  affectionate  step-mother  ;  as  the  father  of  the  fatherless,  the 
care  of  my  orphan  sisters ;  as  the  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep, 
the  care  of  the  congregation  who  have  lost  their  pastor  (0,  that 
the  affliction  may  be  sanctified  to  them !)  ;  and  as  he  that  build- 
eth  up  Jerusalem,  the  care  of  Zion.  Adored  be  his  name !  his 
ability  and  his  mercy  extend  to  them  all. 

"May  he  make  ray  own  soul  to  know  the  richness  of  that 
love,  and  that  inexhaustible  fullness  which  I  am  to  recommend 
to  others ! — and  then  to  preach  Christ,  will  be  both  profitable 
and  pleasant!" 

The  death  of  his  father  thus  abridged  the  period  of  his  study  in 
Scotland,  and  altogether  prevented  his  sojourn  on  the  Continent. 

The  reputation  which  he  had  gained  among  his  teacUers  and 
associates  at  Edinburgh  is  variously  attested. 

The  following  communication  was  addressed  to  theEev.  Joseph 
McElroy,  of  New  York,  by  the  late  Dr.  David  Ilosack : 

"Feeling,  as  I  do,  a  deep  interest  in  the  memory  of  my  d 
fellow-student,  the  late  Dr.  Mason,  who  has  distinguished 
himself  by  his  eminent  talents  and  usefulness  in  his  profession, 
and  has  contributed  to  elevate  the  literary  clLlracter  of  our 
country ;  it  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to  state  the 
high  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  when  prosecuting  his 
theological  studies  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  Upon  my 
arrival  at  Liverpool,  in  September,  1792,  immediately  after  Mr. 
Mason  had  returned  to  New  York,  who,  in  consequence  of  his 
father's  death,  had  been  requested  to  take  charge  of  the  con- 
gregation then  vacant,  I  accidentally  became  acquainted  with 
the  late  Doctor  Ilunter,  the  Professor  of  Divinity  of  the 
University  of  Edinburgh.  That  gentleman,  finding  that  I  had 
been  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr.  Mason,  and  had  been  his 
fellow-student  at  Columbia  College,  the  .strong  attachment  he 
felt  for  bis  pupil  immediately  led  to  much  conversation,  which 


COMMENDATION   OF   DRS.   HUNTER  AND   ERSKINE,  53 

resulted  in  an  invitation  to  take  a  seat  with  him  in  his  post- 
chaise  upon  his  return  to  Edinburgh,  which  I  accepted. 

'■  This  gratifying  occurrence  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  ac- 
quiring much  information  relative  to  the  University,  and 
particularly  of  the  Divinity  class.  Dr.  Hunter,  upon  that 
occasion,  observed  to  me  that  his  pupil,  Mr.  Mason,  had  evinced 
talents  of  the  first  order,  and  had  distinguished  himself  as 
one  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  his  class,  at  that  time 
consisting  of  about  sixty  in  number.  He  further  added,  that 
it  was  the  custom  to  exercise  the  class  in  composition,  upon 
themes  previously  given  out  by  the  Professor,  and  that  on  the 
the  Saturday  of  each  week  the  theses  so  prepared  were  read, 
and  became  the  subjects  of  public  discussion.  In  these  exer- 
cises, Dr.  Hunter  remarked,  that  few  wrote  with  the  facility, 
originality,  and  force,  that  always  marked  the  compositions 
presented  by  Mr.  Mason ;  but  that,  in  the  extemporaneous  de- 
bate that  ensued,  he  held  decidedly  the  first  rank,  ever  exhibit- 
ing great  powers  of  analysis,  extensive  research,  much  acuteness 
of  remark,  and  these  enforced  by  an  eloquence  that  uniformly 
commanded  the  respect,  not  only  of  his  instructor,  but  of  every 
member  of  his  class. 

"  I  may  add,  that  the  Eev.  and  learned  Dr.  Erskine  was  a 
no  less  ardent  admirer  of  the  talents  and  promise  of  Mr.  Mason, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  frequently  spoke  of  him  with  feelings 
of  the  warmest  attachment — nor  can  I  ever  forget  the  kind  and 
hospitable  reception  which  my  intimacy  with  Mr.  Mason  se- 
cured to  me  in  the  families  he  had  frequented."* 

■2  Dr.  McElroy's  Sermon,  pp.  22,  23. 


CHAPTER    V. 

1792—1801. 

SKTTLEMKNT    AND    KAKI.Y    MINISTRY. 

Returns  from  Scotland — Is  licensed — Supplies  his  Father's  church — Is  ordained — 
Mrs.  Mason — Character  of  his  labours — Mrs.  Graham's  Estimation — Fast-day 
Sermon — Missionary  Sermon — Mr.  Haldane — Missionary  Correspondence. 

Mr.  Mason"  embarked  at  Greenock,  early  in  August,  1792, 
and  reached  New  York  in  September.  The  attention  of  his 
father's  church  had  already  been  directed  to  him  for  the  vacant 
charge.  At  their  instance,  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  home, 
a  special  meeting  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbytery  of 
Pennsylvania  was  held,  at  which  the  early  missionary  associate 
of  his  father,  the  Rev.  Robert  Annan,  with  the  Rev.  John 
Smith,  and  the  Ruling  Elder,  John  Ellis,  were  present,  when 
he  was  examined  and  duly  licensed  to  preach.  The  instrument 
attesting  these  transactions  is  dated  New  York,  Oct.  18,  1792. 
Three  days  after,  he  thus  records  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
which  occupied  his  mind : 

"New  York,  Oct.  21st,  1792.  Verily  I  have  been  a  child 
of  Providence.  Goodness,  undeserved  goodness  and  mercy, 
have  followed  me  all  the  days  of  my  life.  I  desire  to  reckon 
among  the  loving  kindnesses  of  the  Lord,  his  tender  care  of  me 
during  my  absence  from  home;  his  preserving  me  from  the 
dangers  ©f  the  ocean ;  and  restoring  me,  in  more  peace  and 
comfort  than  I  could  expect,  to  ni}'-  familj^,  my  friends,  my 
country. 

"I  bless  his  sovereignty  for  choosing  me  at  so  early  a  period 
of  ray  life  to  preach  the  gospel  of  peace;  for  enabling  me  to  go 
through  preparatory   trials  with  comfort  and   credit ;  for  not 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS   AND  VOWS.  55 

confounding  me  in  bis  presence  in  my  first  attempt  to  speak  in 
his  name,  (Saturday,  Oct.  20) ;  for  giving  me  an  opportunity 
of  celebrating  redeeming  love  in  tlie  ordinance  of  tlie  Supper, 
this  day  observed ;  and  for  inclining  my  heart  to  roll  myself, 
with  all  my  guilt  and  vileness,  upon  his  rich  mercy. 

"  I  am  all  feebleness  ;  I  am  a  very  child  ;  utterly  unqualified 
for  going  out  and  in  before  the  people  of  God.  But  my  Ee- 
deemer  is  all  sufficient  ;  and  in  his  all-sufficiency  I  trust. 

"  Sensible  of  the  great  guilt  of  those  who  preach  to  others  a 
Saviour  in  whom  they  never  believed,  and  who  venture  upon 
ministerial  work  in  their  own  strength,  I  wish  to  go  out  of  my- 
self into  Christ,  to  flee  from  my  sins,  my  pollution,  my  duties, 
my  attainments,  into  his  covenant  righteousness.  Jehovah 
knows  that  the  supreme  desire  of  my  soul  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Lord  Jesus,  not  having  my  own  righteousness.  Here,  then,  as 
in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  God  omniscient,  I  avouch  him  to  be  my 
God,  my  father,  my  friend,  my  support,  in  the  Son  of  his  love. 
I  avouch  the  blessed  Jesus  to  be  my  Eedeenier,  my  righteous- 
ness, my  strength.  I  wish  to  live  on  him  and  for  him;  on  the 
fulness  of  his  covenant,  and  to  his  glory.  I  avouch  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  be  my  comforter  and  guide.  I  wish  to  read  and  pray, 
and  sing,  and  study  my  Bible,  and  perform  every  duty  of  the 
Christian  and  ministerial  calling,  under  an  unction  from  the 
Holy  One.  I  devote  myself  to  Jehovah,  the  Triune  God,  in  the 
ministry  of  the  gospel  of  peace. 

"  And  now  I  am  no  more  mine  own,  but  thine,  O  God  of  my 
righteousness  1  I  beseech  thee,  leave  me  not,  neither  forsake 
me ;  but  make  me  a  polished  shaft  in  thine  hand,  and  daily 
supply  me  with  all  the  gifts  and  graces  requisite  to  my  import- 
ant station.  Help  me  to  feel  the  power  of  thy  truth  upon  my 
own  heart ;  and  as  I  have  believed,  so  may  I  speak,  for  the 
sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus.     Amen  !" 

From  the  time  of  his  licensure  he  supplied  the  pulpit  till  the 
following  March,  when  the  church  and  congregration,  being 
fully  satisfied  with  his  qualifications  for  the  charge,  presented 
him  a  unanimous  call  to  become  their  pastor.  The  moderator 
of  the  meeting  at  which  the  vote  was  formally  taken,  was  the 


66  niS   ORDINATION    AND   MARRIAGE. 

Eev.  Thomas  G.  Smith,  (who  aftewards  became  connected  with 
the  Eeformed  Dutch  Church) ;  and  the  call  was  signed  by  names 
which  still  retain  and  diffuse  a  sweet  fragrance  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  Among  them  we  find  Alexander  Eobertson, 
Samuel  Loudon,  George  Lindsay,  William  Wilson,  James  R. 
Smith,  Robert  Gosman,  John  Young,  Samuel  Milligan,  James 
Ronalds,  James  Tillary,  Andrew  Otterson,  John  Currie,  Thomas 
Rich,  Robert  Blake,  John  Taylor,  John  Forsyth,  Archibald 
M'Intire,  James  Walker,  Walter  Heyer, 

Soon  after  these  preliminaries  he  was  ordained,  and  in  due 
form  took  charge  of  the  church  as  their  pastor. 

On  the  iSth  of  May,  in  the  same  year,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Ann  Lefferts,  a  pious  young  lady  of  a  Dutch  family  in 
New  York,  with  whom  he  had  become  acquainted  before  he 
left  home  for  Scotland,  and  for  whom  he  seems  to  have  cherished 
a  special  regard  during  his  absence.  This  proved  in  all  res})ects 
an  eminently  happy  union  for  both  parties,  and  continued  such 
with  uninterrupted  mutual  confidence  and  affection  till  they 
were  separated  by  death.  It  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Mrs. 
Mason  to  say,  that  to  her  good  sense' and  unaffected  piety,  she 
added  the  accomplishments  of  a  cultivated  mind  and  a  warm 
•heart.  Her  judgment  was  sound,  her  disposition  cheerful,  her 
taste  discriminating,  her  manners  both  dignified  and  pleasing. 
At  the  same  time  she  was  ever  ready  with  alacrity  to  apply 
herself  to  the  practical  duties  of  her  station — relieving  her  hus- 
band of  many  cares,  and  thus  enabling  him  to  devote  himself 
more  entirely  to  his  appropriate  labours.  She  was  universally 
respected  by  those  within  the  sphere  of  her  various  social  rela- 
tions. In  her  domestic  circle  especially,  was  she  ever  felt  to  be 
all  that  a  good  wife  and  a  good  mother  ought  to  be;  and  the 
best  model  for  those  coming  after  her.  Her  resolution  and  firm 
ness,  united  with  uniform  prudence  and  kindness,  gave  her  a 
silent  but  complete  control  over  her  household,  and  secured 
among  them  an  order  and  harmony  which  are  seldom  equalled. 
Often  has  Dr.  Mason  been  heard  to  bestow  the  most  unqualified 
commendation  upon  the  wisdom  of  her  counsels  and  the  efficiency 
of  her  cooperation.  In  one  of  his  later  letters  to  a  friend  in 
Britain,  he  says:  ''Among  earthly  things,  she  is  the  most  pre- 
cious treasure  which  my  great  Benefactor  has  granted  me." 


ESTEEMED   BY   THE    PEOPLE.  57 

Feeling  both  the  tenderness  and  the  saeredness  of  the  ties 
created  by  his  ordination,  Mr.  Mason  entered  upon  his  pastoral 
duties  with  the  greatest  assiduity  and  zeal.  Most  earnestly  did 
he  devote  himself  to  the  best  interests  of  his  people.  Viewing 
these  interests  in  the  light  of  that  volume  which  exhibits  their 
relation  to  the  Supreme  Being,  and  to  an  unending  destiny,  his 
labours  partook  eminently  of  a  spiritual  character.  The 
thought  of  a  large  and  flourishing  society  in  the  midst  of  a 
splendid  metropolis,  was  very  secondary  and  subordinate  to 
that  of  a  church  adorned  with  the  intelligence  and  the  virtues 
of  evangelical  Christianity.  Such  views  gave  a  direction  to 
all  his  ministrations,  and  found  their  way  to  the  hearts  of  those 
whom  he  served.  Sefldom  has  a  minister  succeeded  better  in 
securing  the  affections  and  confidence  of  his  flock.  He  not 
only  satisfied  his  hearers,  but  filled  them  with  admiration. 
From  the  commencement  of  his  labours,  they  assigned  him  to 
the  first  place  among  the  eminent  divines  with  whom  he  was 
surrounded.  His  urbanity  of  manners,  his  cordiality  of  dispo- 
sition, his  undisguised  frankness  and  sincerity,  his  self-conse- 
cration to  the  high  ends  of  his  calling,  and  his  transcendent 
ability  in  the  pulpit,  gave  him  such  a  place  in  their  regard  as 
few  have  ever  attained.  His  first  communion  season  made  such 
an  impression  upon  his  people  as  was  never  lost.  The  late 
James  Walker,  of  Schenectady,  then  lately  arrived  from  Scot- 
land, happened  to  be  present  at  the  preparatory  sermon.  More 
than  fifty  years  afterwards,  he  repeated  to  the  writer  some  of 
•  the  words  which  were  uttered  on  the  occasion,  and  said  that  he 
still  retained  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  very  tones  of  voice  with 
which  they  were  uttered,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  appearance  of 
the  young  preacher. 

The  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  is  sufiiciently  indi- 
cated by  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  of  Mrs.  Graham, 
dated  1793  :  "  Our  young  Timothy,  J.  M.,  is  a  perfect  cham- 
pion for  the  Gospel  of  Jesus.  The  Lord  has  well  girded  him 
and  largely  endowed  him.  He  walks  closely  with  God,  and 
speaks  and  preaches  like  a  Christian  of  long  experience.  He 
was  ordained  about  two  months  ago  in  his  father's  church,  and 
a  few  weeks  after  married  a  lady  of  eminent  piety,  and  preached 
all  day,  both  the  Sabbath  before  and  after.     There  is  probably 


68  FAST  DAY   AND   THANKSGIVING  SERMONS. 

no  church,  in  New  York  whose  discipline  is  as  strict,  nor  one 
which  has  so  many  communicants.  He  is  reckoned  a  lad  of 
great  talents  and  an  orator ;  and  many  of  even  the  idle  and 

careless  go  to  hear  him Oh,  for  a  thankful  heart! 

The  Lord  has  done  wonders  for  me  and  mine;  and  blessed  be 
his  name  for  this  mercy  also,  that  in  a  remarkable  manner,  by 
a  strange  concurrence  of  circumstances,  he  hedged  me  in  to  be- 
come a  member  of  this  congregation,  where  I  am  led  and  fed 
■with  the  same  truths  which  nourished  my  soul  in  Zion's  gates 
at  Edinburgh  ;  and  I  am  helped  to  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a 
foreign  land."     [Memoirs,  ch.  4.) 

Nor  was  his  reputation  limited  to  the  circle  of  his  own 
people,  or  his  own  denomination.  Yery-soon  the  community 
at  large  assigned  him  a  conspicuous  place  in  that  galaxy  of 
evangelical  talent  with  which  their  city  was  adorned.  In  the 
course  of  the  very  first  year  of  his  settlement  a  sermon 
preached  on  a  fast  day  was  required  for  the  press.  It  may  be 
seen  in  the  first  volume  of  his  published  works.  It  is  written 
with  vigour,  and  exhibits  very  definitely  the  author's  views 
respecting  the  nature  and  prevalence  of  public  sins,  their  rela- 
tion to  the  dealings  of ,  a  righteous  moral  Governor,  and  the 
obligations  of  a  people  to  recognize  the  administration  of  that 
moral  Governor  and  to  humble  themselves  before  him. 

About  eighteen  months  later  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  pub- 
lish a  sermon  of  thanksgiving  for  the  blessings  received  from 
that  same  Supreme  Ruler,  in  which  he  exhibits  the  beneficent 
aspect  of  his  kind  providence,  and  the  duty  of  all  men  to 
praise  hirn.     This  is  also  found  in  his  works. 

His  next  printed  discourse  is  entitled  '  Hope  for  the 
Heathen,'  and  was  preached,  soon  after  its  organization,  before 
the  New  York  Missionary  Society,  November  7,  1797.  It 
depicts  with  great  force  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  Pagan 
world,  demonstrates  with  clearness  and  power  the  insufficiency 
of  all  human  devices  for  improving  it,  and  then  exhibits  the 
nature  and  tendency  of  those  divinely  appointed  means  which 
the  risen  and  triumphant  Saviour  has  taught  his  disciples  to 
employ  for  securing  that  joyful  consummation.  As  he  pro- 
ceeds in  his  application  of  the  subject,  he  rises  in  his  strength, 
and  kindles  into  fervour.     Objections  are  disposed  of,  obliga- 


NEW  YORK  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  59 

tions  urged,  and  motives  presented  in  a  style  of  nervous  elo- 
quence, wliicli,  accompanied  as  it  was  by  bis  unrivalled  elocu- 
tion, must  bave  contributed  not  a  little  to  tbat  strong  impulse 
in  bebalf  of  missions  wbicb  New  York  Cbristians  so  early  re- 
ceived. Tbe  discourse  deserves  a  place  among  tbe  perform- 
ances of  bis  maturer  da3'-3.     We  give  a  very  brief  extract : — 

"  Unbelief  looks  at  opposition  and  faints.  Faitb  looks  to  tbe 
promise  of  God  and  conquers.  In  tbe  strengtb  of  tbe  promise, 
worm  Jacob  tbresbes  tbe  mountains,  and  beats  tbem  small.  It 
is  tbe  way  of  tbe  Holy  One  of  Israel  to  order  bis  servants  upon 
difficult  dut}^,  witbout  sbowing  tbem  immediately  bow  tbe}^  are 
to  succeed.  Keserving  to  bimself  tbe  manner  and  tbe  praise  of 
tbeir  victory,  be  lays  upon  tbem  a  necessity  of  trusting  bis 
faitbfiilness ;  and  tbey  never  did,  and  tbey  never  sball,  trust 
bim  in  vain." 

Tbe  subject  of  missions  was,  at  tbat  time,  comparatively  new 
in  tbe  American  cburcbes,  but  tbe  intelligent  reader  cannot  fail 
of  perceiving  bow  fully  it  was  comprebended  by  tbe  preacber, 
and  bow  distinctly  tbe  obligations  wbicb  it  imposes  pressed 
upon  bis  mind.  Tbe  views  wbicb  be  tben  entertained  be  never 
altered,  tbougb  at  a  later  period  of  bis  life  be  was  more 
particularly  and  anxiously  intent  upon  anotber  great  object. 
He  was  one  of  tbe  founders  of  tbe  society  wbicb  be  ad- 
dressed, and  be  was  its  first  secretary.  Its  annual  reports, 
and  its  correspondence,  (publisbed  in  part  in  a  Missionary  Mag- 
azine of  tbat  day),  present  in  greater  detail  tbe  interest  wbicb 
be  felt  in  tbe  cause,  and  tbe  ardour  witb  wbicb  be  was  disposed 
to  pursue  it.  He  was  also  tbe  autbor  of  an  address  to  tbe 
Cbristians  of  tbe  United  States,  issued  on  tbe  formation  of  tbis 
society,  179G.  It  was  re-publisbed  in  Scotland,  and  raised  bis 
reputation  tbere. 

His  mind  may  bave  been  greatly  iuflaenced  on  tbis  subject 
by  a  communication  received  tbrougb  bis  uncle,  wbo  says  of 
tbe  writer,  tbat  be  "  is  a  growing  minister,  and  an  advanced 
Cbristian.  I  know  not  bis  equal  among  tbe  young  ministers  of 
tbat  connexion."  As  tbis  communication  relates  a  few  inter- 
esting facts  illustrating  tbe  cbaracter  and  career  of  anotber  in- 
dividual wbom  tbe  Cbristian  public  can  never  cease  to  admire, 
we  need  make  no  apology  for  giving  a  good  part  of  it : — 


60  MR.  haldane's  noble  resolution. 

Stirling,  Nov.  28,  1796. 
******  * 

'•Mr.  Ilaldaue,  for  some  time  past,  hath  felt  deeply  the  force 
of  truth.  He  longed  for  an  opportunity  to  diffuse,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  others,  that  word  of  life  which  he  felt  so  pleasant  and 
delightful  to  himself  The  life  of  a  country  gentleman  he  found 
the  most  silly  and  insignificant;  visiting,  and  receiving  visits,  and 
unprofitable  trifling,  filled  up  the  time  ;  and  amusements,  in 
which  there  v/as  nothing  rational,  returned  in  one  dull  routine. 
He  reflected  long  how  he  should  be  useful  to  the  world.  Upon 
examination,  he  found  that  property  was  a  talent  he  possessed, 
and  finding  himself  in  the  Scriptures  denominated  a  steward, 
he  concluded  that  he  was  called  to  use  this  talent  for  the  spread 
of  religious  knowledge,  and  himself  to  take  a  share  in  the  toil. 
Mrs.  Haldane,  with  equal  dignity  of  mind,  agreed  that  the  life 
of  a  country  gentleman  was  silly  and  trifling  ;  that  he  could  not 
dispose  of  his  property  better,  and  that  she  was  perfectly  will- 
ing to  second  his  attempts.  If  he  should  commence  teacher  of 
religion,  she  would  cheerfully  go  with  him  to  dwell  in  a  manse. 
Having  fixed  the  plan  in  his  own  mind,  he  communicated  it  to 
my  friend  Mr.  Innes.  With  Mr.  Haldane,  his  consent  to  ac- 
company him  was  a  first  principle.  As  it  was  wholly  a  con- 
fidential business,  he  affirmed  he  knew  of  no  other  in  whom  he 
could  full}'  confide  but  himself  If  he  refused,  the  plan  would 
be  given  up,  and  another  devised.  If  he  consented,  it  would  be 
carried  on.  His  intimacy  for  two  years,  and  principally  his  in- 
strumentality in  bringing  him  to  adopt  his  present  principles, 
and  views  of  religion,  laid  a  foundation  for  unlimited  confidence. 
This  representation  of  the  matter  placed  my  friend  in  a  very 
trying  situation.  He  found  difficulties  from  his  relation  to  his 
people,  from  his  probable  success  in  this  place,  from  his  friends, 
and  from  his  own  weakly  constitution.  But  he  saw  a  grand 
object  before  him,  a  large  field  of  usefulness  opened,  an  illustri- 
ous plan  proposed,  which  his  refusal  would  frustrate  forever. 
After  weighing  everything  attentively,  he  found  that  he  could, 
not  say,  I  will  not  second  your  views.  Upon  his  consent, 
Messrs.  Bogue,  of  Gosport,  and  Ewing,  of  Edinburgh,  were 
asked.  Their  consent  was  cheerfully  given.  In  consequence 
of  this,  Mr.  Ilaldaue  hath  bestowed  twenty-four  thousand  pounds 


MR.  haldane's  plan.  61 

upon  a  mission  to  Hindostan.     Ten  tliousand  is  allotted  for  the 
s-upport  of  Messrs.  Haldane,  Bogue,  Ewing  and  Innes.      They 
have  already  procured  the  consent  of  Mr.  Dodds,  a  surgeon, 
with  a  fortune  of  a  thousand  pounds,  and  of  a  religious  char- 
acter, to  accompy  them  ;  and  another  gentleman  in  Mr.  Bogue's 
congregation,  with  a  fortune  of  five  thousand  pounds,  and  a 
concern  in  trade  worth  three  hundred  pounds  per  annum.     But 
the  consent  of  the  Board  of  Control  must  be  obtained  before 
they  can  go  out.     The  last  letters  I  had  from  London,  (about  ten 
days  ago),  state  that  there  were  hopes  of  their  succeeding  with 
Mr.  Dundas.     But  nothing  positive  hath  yet  arrived.  _  There 
are  fears  that  the   whole  may  be    frustrated.      Mr.  Grant,  in 
the  direction  of  the  East  India  Company,  had  made  proposals 
some  time  ago  to  Mr.  Dundas  to  divide  Hindostan  into  parishes, 
and  to  episcopize  the  natives.     Mr.  Dundas  wished  him  to  defer 
his  plan  till  the  conclusion  of  the  war.     A  similar  fate  may 
await   the  present  application.     If  they  should  succeed,  Mr. 
Haldane,  as  he  finds  other  prospects  of  usefulness  opening,  has 
resolved  to  set  his  whole  fortune  afloat  in  the  spread  of  religious 
knowledge.     This  is  a  noble  triumph  of  religious  principle  over 
selfishness — a  man  not  only  devoting  his  fortune,  but  hazard- 
ing his  life,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus,  and  the  happiness  of  his  fel- 
low-men.    They  intend  to  settle  at  Benaris,  north  of  Calcutta, 
the  very  seat  of  Braminical  knowledge,  from   which  central 
point  they  propose  to  diffuse  the  light  of  revelation  all  over  Hin- 
dostan.    They    will   constitute   themselves  into   one   compact 
society,  and  their  first  object  is  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
the  language  of  the  natives.     They  will  exist  as  a  seminary  of 
learning,  and  act  upon  principles  purely  apostolical.     From  this 
select  society  missionary  instructions  will  be  issued,  and  a  cor- 
respondence kept  up  with  all  the  missionary  societies  in  Europe. 
The  God  of  heaven  bless  the  undertaking !     Do  you  ask  my 
sentiments  of  the  mission  ?     Here  I  shall  be  at  a  loss  for  words 
to  express  either  my  feelings  or  my  opinions.     I  felt  as  if  thun- 
derstruck when  I  first  heard  the  plan  disclosed.     It  hath  often 
occupied  my  thoughts  since.     I  feel  as  if  carried  back  to  apos- 
■  tolical  times,  and  behold  with  rapture  ancient  love   and  zeal 
kindled  anew.     Instead  of  beholding  only  a  Barnabas  selling 
his  estate  in  the  isle  of  Cyprus  and  laying  the  money  down  at 


02  AN   INSTRUCTIVE   LESSON. 

the  Apostles'  feet,  I  see  with  new  emotions  a  Haldane,  with  the 
same  noble  spirit,  devoting  his  fortune  and  hazarding  his  life 
with  his  worthy  colleagues,  for  the  sake  of  our  common  Lord, 
and  the  spread  of  his  glorious  gospel.  It  is  an  object  quite  new 
in  the  Christian  world.  The  profane  will  scoff  and  pronounce 
them  mad  enthusiasts  ;  but  the  hardy  veterans  are  prepared  to 
meet  the  storm  and  pity  the  ignorance  of  the  multitude.  The 
religious  world,  however,  will  stand  rapt  in  the  astonish- 
ment of  joy,  admire  the  wonders  of  grace,  and  pray  for  success 
to  the  noble  undertaking.  It  hath  my  hearty  approbation. 
The  plan  is  rational ;  wisdom  shines  in  its  arrangements;  and 
the  purest  principles  gave  it  birth.  I  wish  many  may  be  seized 
with  the  same  holy  ardour,  and  bring  us  fast  back  to  apostolic 
times.  Methinks  I  hear  from  the  centre  of  Ilindostan  a  voice 
proclaiming  so  loud  as  to  be  heard  through  the  whole  of  Europe 
— "  Brethren  lay  aside  your  narrow  views,  joiw  part}'  spirit, 
your  little  animosities,  which  have  long  stopped  the  circulation 
of  brotherly  love.  Break  down  those  thorn}'"  hedges  which 
have  too  long  separated  brethren  from  one  another,  and  unite 
in  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  and  the  bonds  of  Christian  fellowship. 
Let  the  absurd  plan  of  uniformity  be  dropped,  and  learn  the 
liberal  doctrine  of  Christian  forbearance.  Let  not  little  circum- 
stantials make  you  knit  your  brows,  and  lead  you  to  anathema, 
tise  one  another.  Live  as  brethren  of  the  same  family,  and 
breathe  universal  benevolence  to  all  mankind.  Look  at  us,  and 
see  that  apostolic  unity  is  possible  if  the  spirit  of  forbearance  is 
practiced." 

Yours,  with  much  affection, 

JOHN  SMART. 

For  some  time  after  this,  Mr.  Mason's  correspondence  was  a 
good  deal  interspersed  with  the  subject  of  missions.  Our  plan 
does  not  admit  of  inserting  more  than  a  few  extracts.  The  first 
is  from  a  letter  of  the  liev.  "Walter  Buchanan,  of  Canongate, 
Edinburgh,  dated  Febrnnry  23rd,  1797.  "I  am  happy  to  learn 
that  the  missionary  spirit  has  reached  America,  and  it  was  with 
heartfelt  satisfaction  that  I  read  this  evening  an  excellent 
address  from  a  society  at  New- York  signed  by  you  as  their 
Secretary.     May  many  such  societies  be  formed  on  your  side 


MISSIONARY  NOTICES.  63 

of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  blessing  of  heaven  attend  your  en- 
deavours ! 

*'  The  accounts  of  what  has  been  doing  in  Britain,  with  a 
view  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  must  have  afforded  3^ou 
much  satisfaction.  But  nothing  perhaps  would  fill  3'Ou  with 
more  surprise  than  the  design  of  your  friend,  Mr.  Ewing,  and 
his  associates,  to  go  to  the  East  Indies.  He  and  his  friends 
have  applied  to  the  Directors  of  the  East  India  Company  for 
permission  to  go,  and  have  been  refused  !  What  an  awful 
thing  this  is  ! — To  forbid  the  Gospel  to  be  preached  to  the 
heathen  !  Nay,  to  prevent  men  from  preaching  to  their  fellow - 
suhjects^  who  are  without  the  means  of  salvation  !  May  the 
Father  of  Mercies  pardon  their  guilt,  and  open  their  eyes !" 

Another  is  from  a  letter  of  the  Rev.  Archibald  Bonar,  Edin- 
burgh, dated  the  next  year :  '•  I  long  to  hear  more  particulars 
about  your  Missionary  Society.  The  animating  and  conform- 
able information  concerning  it,  in  your  letter  to  Mr.  Ewing  and 
myself,  proved  most  seasonable  and  refreshing  to  us  both,  and 
to  many  others."  Again  :  "  Accept  my  best  thanks  for  your 
sermons.  I  have  read  them  all  with  much  pleasure — your 
missionary  sermon  in  particular.  I  trust  the  spirit  there  mani- 
fested will  spread  widely  and  rapidly  on  both  sides  of  the  At- 
lantic. The  yevy  commencements  of  such  a  spirit  are  delight- 
ful, as  they  give  prospects  of  future  splendour  when  the  pre- 
dictions of  Messiah's  reign  are  to  be  accomplished.  One  thing 
I  am  sure  of,  that  the  very  exertions  now  making  for  diflfasing 
the  Gospel  among  the  heathen,  have  been  attended  with  much 
utility  at  home.  They  have  given  an  energy,  activity,  and  a 
spirit  of  union  to  Christians,  that  were  not  formerly  experienced. 
It  forms  an  agreeable  relief  to  the  thinking  mind  to  observe 
the  serenity  of  the  church  of  Christ  amidst  the  convulsions  of 
the  world.  Plans  are  everywhere  forming  for  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  in  spite  of  the  wars  and  rumours  of  war  that  so  widely 
prevail  ;  and  from  these  plans  we  may  hope  some  good  will 
arise  to  conterbalance  the  many  afflicting  circumstances  of  the 
present  time." 

In  the  same  year  Mr.  Mason  received  a  letter  from  an  esteem- 
ed correspondent  in  London,  which  can  hardly  fail  to  be  re- 
freshing to  the  heart  of  every  Christian  reader,  as  it  shows  the 


64  LONDON   MISSIONARY   S0CIP:TY. 

reflections  and  feelings  which  prevailed  in  that  early  day  of  the 
missionary  enterprise,  and  especially  as  it  is  a  most  delightful 
indication  of  those  incidental  benefits  which  Christians  them- 
selves derive  from  their  efforts  in  this  cause: — 

TO  TI-IE  IfEV.  J.  M.  MASON. 

No.  2  Salisbury  Place,  St.  Mary-le-i!o.\-k, 
London,  January  Gth,  IT'JS. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Brother:  In  answer  to  your  obliging 
letter  by  our  pious  friend  Capt.  Foster,  I  wrote  on  his  return 
in  February  last.  My  letter,  as  you  may  have  heard,  shared 
in  the  fate  of  the  ship's  capture  by  the  enemy.  I  would  not 
regret  this  accident,  but  as  it  prevented  me  at  that  time  from 
gratifying  my  own  heart  by  expressing  the  high  sense  I  have 
of  your  friendship,  and  my  earnest  desire  of  your  correspond- 
ence. United  closely  as  we  are  in  the  bonds  of  ministerial  fel- 
lowship, the  cord  I  feel  to  be  drawn  still  closer  by  the  discov- 
ery you  make,  of  the  liberality  of  your  mind,  and  your  zeal  for 
spreading  abroad  the  fame  of  our  blessed  Master  among  the 
heathen.  To  the  same  elevated  point  of  esteem  and  love  in  the 
minds  of  the  Directors  of  the  Missionary  Society,  have  the  ex- 
ertions of  your  fathers  and  brethren  in  your  native  land  for 
compassing  this  most  valuable  object,  raised  their  characters. 
It  is  by  the  order  of  my  loved  and  honoured  associates,  that  I 
now  write  to  you  and  request  of  your  brethren  to  accept  of  our 
affectionate  congratulations  on  the  forming  of  your  society,  and 
of  our  strong  desire  to  walk  with  you  in  habits  of  intimate 
friendship  and  cooperation.  That  you  may  know  our  affairs 
and  how  we  do,  they  request  your  acceptanc(^  of  the  publica- 
tions which  accompany  this  letter.  In  addition  to  the  informa- 
tion contained  in  them,  I  feel  my  mind  hap})y  in  being  able  to 
tell  you,  that  in  consequence  of  the  desire  of  some  pious  and 
compassionate  planters  and  others  in  Jamaica,  the  Directors 
have  resolved  to  send  out,  as  soon  as  possible,  four  missionaries 
to  labour  among  the  poor  untutored  Africans  in  that  island.  A 
mission  is  also  undertaken  to  India ;  and  we  hope  that  in  the 
course  of  the  ensuing  spring  the  brethren  destined  for  that  part 
of  the  vineyard  will  leave  Europe.  The  desolate  estate  of  the 
British  provinces  in  your  extensive  continent,  hath  also  drawn 


GROUND  OF  HOPE — CONCERT.  66 

the  compassionate  notice  of  the  Society,  and  nothing  but  the 
want  of  fit  persons  to  be  sent  has  retarded  the  execution  of  their 
designs.  We  are  confident,  however,  that  He  who  hath  so  lib- 
erally provided  the  pecuniary  means,  and  whose  Spirit  can  as 
fully  replenish  the  unfurnished  mind  witb  zeal,  piety  and  love, 
will  not  withhold  from  us  and  from  the  heritage  of  his  Son  the 
well  qualified  and  willing  labourer.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  some 
of  ourselves,  or  of  our  brethren  in  the  ministry,  in  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  may  be  prevailed  upon  to  embark  in  this 
good  cause.  In  truth  we  have  reason  to  blush  on  account  of 
our  backwardness  and  cowardice  in  this  warfare. 

You  will  see  ia  the  publications  which  accompany  this,  how 
cordially  our  brethren  in  Scotland  cooperate  with  us,  both  by 
communication  of  their  designs  to  us,  and  by  associating  their 
missionaries  with  ours  to  Sierra  Leone.  As  the  concern  which 
hath  stirred  the  minds  of  God's  people  in  both  quarters  of  the 
Christian  world,  has  for  its  object  the  illumination  in  general 
of  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death,  it  is  a 
desirable  thing  that  a  good  understanding  should  subsist  among 
the  missionary  societies,  and  a  ready  and  timeous  communica- 
tion be  made  to  each  other  of  their  respective  views,  plans  and 
designs,  that  there  may  be  no  interference  in  our  exertions, — 
nothing  like  strife  or  emulation  among  us,  as  we  are  brethren. 
The  field  is  extensive,  and  the  Canaanite  is  still  in  the  land.  It 
will  be  very  obliging  therefore  on  your  part,  and  highly  grati- 
fying to  us,  if  you  will  communicate  the  views  of  your  society 
as  to  the  place  and  plan  of  their  operations ;  and  all  other  in- 
telligence which  may  be  of  use  to  us,  and  to  the  cause  of  man's 
salvation. 

Your  most  affectionate  brother  and  servant, 

ALEX.  WAUGH. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

1793—1801. 
SUCCESS    IN   HIS    LABOURS. 

Increase  of  his  Church — Katie  Ferguson — Second  House  of  Worship — Letters  on 
Frequent  Communion — Doctrine  of  Faith  and  Justification — Spiritual  con- 
flicts— Londonderry  Presbytery — Negotiation  with  Dutch  and  Presbyterian 
Churches — Plan  for  a  religious  book-store  and  weekly  paper — An  active  Trus- 
tee of  Columbia  College — Election  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

For  the  first  eight  or  ten  years  of  his  ministry,  Mr.  Mason's 
labours  were  as  successful  as  they  were  popular.  In  that 
time  he  gathered  about  600  new  members  into  his  church 
from  the  world,  besides  accessions  by  certificate  from  other 
churches ;  and  this  number  could  have  been  greatly  exceeded 
if  he  had  been  more  lax  in  his  notions  respecting  the  qualifi- 
cations of  membership.  He  was  more  anxious  about  the  qual- 
ity than  the  quantity  of  his  increase.  In  a  letter  to  his  fellow- 
student,  the  Rev.  William  Stoddart,  of  Amsterdam,  he  says : — 
"My  gracious  Jjord  has  not  disowned  my  feeble  labours. 
This  man,  and  that,  have  been  born  in  our  Zion.  The  congre- 
gation was  comparatively  small  when  it  came  into  ray  hands, 
containing  not  quite  200  persons  who  had  been  admitted  to 
sacramental  privileges.  During  my  ministry  about  600  have 
been  added;  and  the  increase,  I  trust,  owes  nothing  to  soothing 
doctrines  or  to  remissness  of  discipline.  Had  we  chosen  to 
throw  open  the  door  to  the  merely  civil  and  moral,  our  num- 
ber would  have  been  much  greater.  But  I  wish  to  see  Chris- 
tians in  the  churches.  The  world  and  the  church  can  never 
unite.  If  we  make  the  foolish  attempt,  there  will  be  a  con- 
flict; and  cither  the  one  or  the  other  will  be  prostrated.  This 
city  has  always  been  distinguished  by  an  evangelical  ministry. 
It  contains,   at   this  moment,  thirteen  or  fourteen   men   who 


AN  HUMBLE   DISCIPLE — SECOND  CHURCH.  67 

preach  purely  and  decidedly  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified* 
besides  several  others  who  appear  to  hold  the  head,  although 
their  doctrines  be  not  in  all  things  so  correct  as  we  could  wish. 
Happy  for  us !  (9,  fortunatus  nimium  I  if  scriptural  discipline 
were  equally  extensive." 

Though  thus  intent  upon  maintaining  a  high  standard  of 
practical  piety  in  his  church,  by  strict  discipline,  as  well  as 
faithful  preaching,  he  was  always  ready  to  meet  the  humblest 
inquirer,  and  to  strengthen  the  weakest  germ  of  genuine  re- 
ligion. A  pleasing  example  we  have  in  a  coloured  woman, 
long  known  in  New  York  as  a  consistent,  estimable,  and  useful 
Christian,  Katie  Ferguson.  She  must  have  been  received  into 
the  fellowship  of  the  church  about  1797.  Her  religious  experi- 
ence, as  learned  from  her  own  lips,  was,  soon  after  her  death, 
detailed  by  a  friend  in  one  of  the  public  journals,  July  20, 
1854:  "  At  fourteen  years  of  age,  she  was  converted  to  God. 
When  under  convictions  of  sin,  she  determined  to  go  and  see 
the  Eev.  J.  M.  Mason,  whose  church  she  then  attended.  She 
was  afraid  to  go,  and  tremblingly  apprehensive  that  she  might 
not  receive  the  attention  which  she  needed."  But  how  ground- 
less her  fears  I  "  The  good  man,"  she  said,  "  did  not  speak 
harshly  to  her  or  repulse  her."  He  showed  "  kind  and  tender 
feelings,"  Without  waiting  for  the  "  trembling  coloured  girl 
to  say  anj'thing,  he  introduced  the  subject,  and  opened  to  her 
the  Scriptures  as  she  disclosed  to  him  the  secrets  of  her  heart." 

Other  instances  of  his  care  for  friendless  and  obscure  indi- 
viduals, and  of  his  painstaking  exertions  for  their  benefit,  may 
be  found  in  some  later  pages. 

In  a  few  years  the  number  of  his  hearers  became  too  great 
for  accommodation  in  their  house  of  worship.  This  led  to  the 
erection  of  another;  and  soon  after,  to  the  organization  of  a 
second  church.  In  his  speech  before  the  Presbytery,  on  the 
resignation  of  his  charge  in  1810,  he  says:  "Four  years  after 
my  settlement  it  became  necessary  to  swarm.  A  new  edifice, 
rather  larger  than  the  first,  was  built  in  Magazine  street.  A 
considerable  section  of  the  worshippers  in  this  house  removed 
to  that.  In  less  than  two  years  they  were  replaced,  and  the 
new  house  was  also  filled." 

Both  societies  continued  for  several  years  under  the  same 


68  A   YOKE   OF  BONDAGE. 

pastor.  In  this  state  of  things  no  particular  inconvenience  was 
experienced  for  a  while,  except  an  increase  of  pastoral  labour 
and  care.  At  length,  however,  a  separation  of  the  two  churches 
became  necessary,  and  with  it  a  transfer  of  members.  Mr.  M. 
was  not  the  man  to  suffer  his  own  interests  or  attachments  to 
interfere  with  a  more  general  good.  As  the  new  enterprise 
presented  a  call  for  efficient  helpers,  especially  in  official  stations, 
he  did  not  hesitate,  though  at  the  expense  of  no  little  feeling, 
to  persuade  some  to  go,  who,  without  such  persuasion,  would 
have  preferred  to  remain.  His  object  was  to  impart  strength 
where  it  was  needed.  In  due  time,  both  the  wisdom  and  the 
disinterestedness  of  the  measure  was  acknowledged  by  all. 

About  this  period,  Mr.  M.  undertook  a  more  difficult  task  for 
the  benefit  of  his  denomination  at  large.  The  churches  of 
Scotland,  in  their  honest  zeal,  had  encumbered  the  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  with  certain  fasts,  and  other  appendages, 
which  were  as  onerous  to  the  disciples  as  they  were  unau- 
thorized by  the  Master.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  ordi- 
nance was  administered  but  once  or  twice  a  year.  The  custom, 
however,  had  the  sanction  of  age  and  of  great  names ;  it  was 
particularly  venerated  by  the  seceding  bodies ;  and,  in  coming 
to  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  had  lost  none  of  the  prejudice  by 
which  it  was  fortified.  Of  course,  no  change  could  be  effected 
in  the  matter  without  encountering  the  most  formidable 
obstacles.  Though  still  a  young  man,  he  felt  constrained  to 
make  an  effort  for  removing  the  evil,  which,  in  1798,  resulted 
in  the  publication  of  his  "Letters  on  Frequent  Communion." 
This  work  was  executed  with  as  much  ability  as  it  had  been 
undertaken  with  courage.  It  made  a  great  sensation  among 
Scottish  people  everywhere.  Many  were  convinced,  and  with- 
out much  difficulty  came  into  these  new  views.  Others 
naturally  experienced  a  severe  struggle  in  disengaging  them- 
selves from  customs  which  had  always  been  regarded  by  them 
as  "the  good  old  way." 

In  remote  districts  a  lasting  wound  was  made  which  for  many 
years,  on  every  new  occasion,  betrayed  fresh  symptoms  of  irri- 
tation. On  the  whole,  however,  good  was  done.  If  a  complete 
revolution  was  not  at  once  achieved  everywhere,  a  new  direction 
was  given  to  thought  on  the  subject,  and  a  yoke  of  bondage  was 


DOCTRINE    OF   FAITH   AND    JUSTIFICATION.  69 

gradually  removed  from  a  very  large  portion  of  the  societies  in 
his  ecclesiastical  connexion. 

During  the  same  year  (1798), — to  use  a  phraseology  some- 
what peculiar, — "  An  Act  concerning  Faith  and  Justification 
was  emitted  by  the  Associate  Eeformed  Church  in  North 
America."  This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Mason  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  Synod.  It  was  intended  as  a  testimony  and  guard 
against  certain  spreading  errors ;  and,  though  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  require  the  most  careful  consideration  of  mature  age  and 
experience,  it  is  understood  to  have  given  entire  satisfaction  to 
the  whole  denomination  from  that  day  till  the  present. 

In  this  period  of  his  life,  he  was  also  subjected  to  such  spirit- 
ual conflicts  as  have  already  been  noticed.  In  coming  out  of 
one  of  these,  or  rather  a  series  of  them,  he  records  his  feelings 
in  language  like  the  following  : 

"  March  2od,  1796.  A  long  period  of  darkness  and  dead- 
ness  hath  at  length  been  succeeded  by  an  hour  of  light  and 
life.  This  morning  I  was  engaged  in  reading  a  part  of  Dr. 
Wynpersse's  excellent  defence  of  the  true  and  eternal  Godhead 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  I  lighted  on  a  pleasing  solution  of  the 
objections  raised  by  adversaries  against  this  glorious  funda. 
mental  doctrine  of  the  gospel  from  John  xvii.  3.  On  turning 
up  my  interleaved  Bible  to  mark  the  place,  my  eye  caught  that 
sweet  passage  in  chapter  xvi.  22.  '  And  ye  now  therefore  have 
sorrow :  hut  I  will  see  you  again^  and  your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and 
your  joy  no  man  taketh  from  you^  It  was,  indeed,  a  word  of 
power — of  power  divine.  I  felt  it  spoken  to  me,  even  to  me. 
It  pierced,  it  melted  my  very  soul.  Coldness,  hardness,  dul- 
ness,  fled  away.  It  is  the  voice  of  my  beloved — behold  he 
Cometh  !  Never  did  this  passage  appear  so  sweet,  so  rich,  so 
full  of  grace  and  glory.  Vastly,  inexpressibly,  yea,  infinitely 
superior  to  the  most  eloquent  human  commendation,  is  the  tes- 
timony of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  Jesus  Christ.  "When  he  takes  of 
the  things  of  Christ  and  shows  them  unto  us,  how  lovely,  how 
desirable,  how  supremely  excellent  does  he  appear  !  My  beloved 
is  white  and  ruddy;  the  chief  among  ten  thousand;  yea,  he  is 
altogether  lovely.  Precious,  thrice  precious  Jesus,  exalted  to  be 
a  Prince,  and  a  Saviour,  my  soul  adores  thee !     Thou  art  my 


70  CONFLICTS   AND   TRIUMPH. 

Lord,  and  my  God  !  Jesus !  how  fragrant  is  his  name  !  Jesus, 
how  divine  his  glory  !  I  know  he  is  divine  :  he  hath  spoken 
life  and  peace  to  my  soul.  He  hath  done  what  no  creature  can 
do,  he  has  brought  me  out  of  a  fearful  pit,  and  out  of  the  miry 
clay ;  and  hath  put  a  new  song  in  my  mouth,  even  praise  to  our 
God,  Worship  him,  all  ye  gods  !  Jesus,  how  tender  his  com- 
passions !  How  boundless  his  mercies  !  '  I  will  see  you  again.' 
Lord,  how  is  it  that  thou  dost  manifest  thyself  to  me,  and  not 
unto  the  world  ?  May  I  ever  be  confounded  for  my  unright- 
eousness !  Thou  art  my  worth:  my  righteousness:  my  life: 
my  soul  desires  none  else.  And  'your  heart  shall  rejoice!" 
It  does  rejoice,  blessed  Jesus.  It  rejoices  in  thee.  I  will  greatly 
rejoice  in  the  Lord.  My  soul  shall  be  joyful  in  my  God ;  for 
he  hath  clothed  me  with  the  robe  of  righteousness  :  he  hath 
covered  me  with  the  garments  of  salvation  !  and,  all  thanks  be 
to  thee,  no  man  can  take  this  joy  from  me.  O,  feast  of  fat 
things !  0,  moment  never  to  be  forgotten  !  This  repays  a 
thousand-fold  all  that  I  have  been  called  to  do  and  to  bear  for 
his  name's  sake.  One  such  moment  wipes  away  all  the  re- 
proach of  the  cross.  He  is  as  good  as  his  word,  that  he  will 
give  to  them  that  love  him  an  hundred-fold,  even  in  this  present 
life.  Pleasant  is  the  path  of  obedience,  easy  is  duty,  light  is 
the  cross,  smiling  is  death,  beautiful  the  grave,  welcome  is 
eternity,  when  Jesus  lifts  upon  us  the  light  of  his  countenance ! 
In  this  faith  and  this  experience  may  I  live!  In  this  die! 
Yea,  though  I  walk  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will 
fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with  me.  I  roll  myself,  ray  family, 
my  flock,  my  all,  upon  thee,  O,  thou  mighty  to  save  !  May  I 
never,  as  a  Christian,  or  a  minister,  know  anything  but  Jesus 
Christ  and  him  crucified.  In  this  may  I  gladly  spend  and  be 
spent !  I  commit  now  the  keeping  of  my  soul,  and  my  soul's 
frame,  unto  thee.  Keep  me  from  falling.  Keep  me  from  pride  ; 
keep  mc  from  security ;  keep  me  from  earthlj^-mindedness.  To 
the  praise  of  the  glory  of  grace,  I  am  what  I  am.  I  know  in 
whom  I  have  believed.  I  will  sing  of  the  mercies  of  the  Lord 
forever." 

A  considerable  number  of  Scottish  settlers  in  New-Hampshire 
and  some  other  parts  of  New-England  formed  themselves  into 
what  was  called  the  Londonderry  Presbytery,  and  by  a  natural 


LONDONDERRY   PRESBYTERY,  71 

affinity  became  connected  with  the  Associate  Eeformed  Synod. 
After  a  few  years  and  under  the  peculiarity  of  their  circumstances, 
they  thought  themselves  justified  in  departing  from  some  of 
the  established  usages  of  their  denomination — such  as  singing 
Watts'  Psalms  and  Hymns,  and  permitting  non-professors  to 
vote  in  certain  external  church  matters.  For  this  the  Synod 
rebuked  them.  They  remonstrated.  In  1796,  Mr.  Mason  and 
another  minister  were  appointed  a  committee  to  visit,  and,  if 
possible,  reclaim  them.  This  committee  were  providentially 
prevented  from  going,  but  wrote  an  earnest  letter  expostulating 
with  the  Presbytery  on  their  irregularities,  and  sustaining  the 
ground  taken  by  the  Synod.  In  behalf  of  the  Presbytery,  one 
of  its  members,  the  Rev.  "William  Morison,  in  a  communication 
dated  Londonderry,  August  26,  1796,  replied  among  other 
things,  as  follows  :  "  The  distance  of  place,  with  other  circum- 
stances relative  to  me  and  my  brethren  in  New-England,  render 
personal  interviews  with  our  southern  brethren  very  incon- 
venient. Oar  Presbytery  have  increased  from  the  small  number 
of  three  or  four,  to  ten  settled  ministers,  viz. :  Messrs.  Moor, 
Ewers,  Annan,  Taggart,  Oliver,  Dana,  Tomb,  Brower,  Pidgini 
with  myself.  This  Presbytery  consider  themselves  (with  Divine 
aid)  competent  to  all  the  purposes  of  judicial  authority  in  the 
churches  or  societies  under  their  care  ;  are  best  acquainted  with 
their  customs,  temper,  and  manners ;  and  their  situation  with 
respect  to  other  denominations.  They  have  considered  the  act 
of  the  Synod  respecting  Psalmody  as  injurious  to  the  cause 
of  Presbytery  in  New-England ;  and  have  voted  to  reply 
accordingly  to  the  letter  of  the  Synod  on  the  subject.  Should 
the  committee  yet  come,  and  warmly  insist  upon  the  observance 
of  the  late  Synodical  acts  respecting  Psalmody  and  terms  of 
communion,  I  will  not  say  they  may  not  gratify  a  few ;  but 
they  will,  I  think,  give  a  mortal  wound  to  the  influence  of  the 
Synod  in  this  part  of  the  continent.  Common  observation  and 
experience  concur  with  revelation  in  teaching  us  the  necessity 
of  governing  people  in  a  manner  best  adapted  to  their  circum- 
stances for  their  good  and  for  the  honour  of  religion.  For  my 
own  part,  I  cannot  say  but  a  coalescence  between  the  Synod 
and  the  General  Assembly,  in  a  rational  manner,  would  give 
me  pleasure.     It  would   open  a  wide  door  of  usefulness  to 


72  ECCLESIASTICAL   CORRESPONDENCE. 

many  ministers  ;  and  might  lay  the  foundation  of  a  more  uni- 
form and  general  reformation  in  America.  Of  all  countries, 
she  requires  the  most  generous  and  benevolent  system  of  reli- 
gion, as  well  as  of  civil  administration." 

It  was  thus  found  that  there  was  no  withstanding  the  current 
of  events.  The  Presbytery  could  not  be  controlled  by  the 
Synod.  Their  attendance  at  its  meetings  fell  off,  till  it  finally 
ceased  altogether.  Many  of  the  congregations  became  absorbed 
by  the  prevailing  organization.  The  Presbytery  itself,  greatly 
reduced,  at  length  joined  the  General  Assembly,  in  which  con- 
nexion it  still  remains.  Since  1801  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synod  "  have  not  considered  it  as  in  their  connexion."  [Min- 
utes of  Synod.] 

It  is  interesting  to  remember  that,  under  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances, the  Synod  themselves,  some  years  after  that  time, 
greatly  modified  their  opinions  and  policy  on  the  above  sub- 
jects. There  is  evidently  in  all  our  churches  a  strong  tendency 
towards  certain  American  characteristics.  In  externals  there 
is  in  all,  a  necessity  for  putting  on  something  of  an  American 
dress;  and  in  the  same  proportion  to  divest  ourselves  of 
foreign  peculiarities.  Of  this  Mr.  M.  became  afterwards  most 
fully  convinced. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  held  in  the  City  of  New  York,  June,  1798,  it  was  re- 
solved *'  that  the  most  speedy  and  effectual  measures  ought  to 
be  pursued  to  revive  that  friendly  correspondence  which  sub- 
sisted for  several  years  between  the  Reformed  Dutch,  the 
Presbyterian,  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Churches,  and  to 
make  provision  for  its  improvement  and  permanency." 

For  accomplishing  this  purpose,  a  committee  was  appointed, 
to  meet  like  committees  from  the  other  bodies,  to  debase  and 
mature  a  plan  to  be  submitted  to  their  respective  judicatories. 
A  joint  meeting  of  these  several  committees  was  accordingly 
held  in  the  Consistory  Chamber  of  the  Dutch  Church,  New 
York,  June  19th  and  20th,  1798,  at  which  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Rogers  presided,  and  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Mason  acted  as  clerk. 

A  plan  was  agreed  upon,  subject  to  the  ratification  of  the 
several  bodies.  It  contemplated  more  definite  and  intimate  re- 
lations than  had  ever  before  existed.     It  was  adopted  by  a 


DIFFUSION   OF   KNOWLEDGE.  73 

unanimous  vote  in  the  General  Assembly,  May  17th,  1799.  It 
was  not,  however,  attended  with  the  same  success  in  the  Synods 
of  the  other  two  denominations.  Christians  seem  as  yet  to  have 
been  too  much' afraid  of  each  other  to  admit  of  their  coming 
nearer  together.  The  General  Synod  of  the  Dutch  Church, 
at  their  next  triennial  meeting  at  Albany,  June,  1800,  declined 
to  ratify  the  plan.  [See  minutes  of  that  year.]  The  measure 
had  a  similar  result  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod, 

Among  Dr.  Mason's  papers  of  this  period  is  found  a  matured 
plan  for  a  religious  book-store  and  newspaper.  Though  it  was 
not  put  into  operation,  it  shows  that  he  both  discerned  and  felt 
Avhat  the  times  detaanded.  Religious  publications  of  every  kind 
were  scarce.  Even  the  clergy,  at  least  the  younger  portion  of 
them,  who  could  not  have  brought  with  them  a  supply  from 
the  old  countries,  found  it  almost  impossible  to  procure  requi- 
site helps  in  either  theology  or  sound  literature.  Nor  were 
there  any  means  for  the  speedy  diffusion  of  religious  intelligence 
through  a  sparse  population.  But  the  time  for  Bible  and 
Tract  depositories,  and  for  religious  weeklies,  now  so  common, 
had  then  not  yet  come.     The  project  was  abandoned. 

In  further  evidence  of  the  interest  which  he  ever  felt  in  the 
cause  of  solid  education,  and  of  his  disposition  to  labour  for 
its  advancement,  we  find  him  at  an  early  day  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Columbia  College.  A  commu- 
nication was  addressed  to  the  presiding  ofi&cer  of  that  institu- 
tion for  accurate  information  respecting  various  points  by  a 
committee  of  which  he  was  chairman.  This  was  the  initiative 
of  a  series  of  measures  for  improving  their  system. 

Believina;  that  the  choice  of  Christian  rulers  was  not  incon- 
sistent  with  religious  liberty — believing  even  that  the  preva- 
lence of  Christianity  was  essential  to  the  stability  of  our  re- 
publican institutions,  Mr.  Mason  felt  great  alarm  at  the  pros- 
pect of  having  a  President  who  openly  rejected  the  truths  of 
revelation.  He  was  accordingly  induced  to  write  a  strong 
pamphlet  against  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  expediency  of  such  a  step,  it  was  at  the 
time  approved  by  many,  if  not  most  of  his  clerical  brethren. 
In  proof  of  this,  we  have  the  written  testimony  of  one  who 
was  extensively  known,  and  generally  regarded  as  very  prudent. 


74  ELECTION   OF  MR.   JEFFERSON. 

The  Eev.  A.  Proudfit,  of  Salem,  N.  Y.,  under  date  of 
Nov.  10th,  1800,  writes :  "  Accept  of  my  cordial  thanks  for 
the  pamphlet  containing  your  noble,  I  will  add  patriotic  testi- 
mony in  opposition  to  an  avowed  enemy  of  our  Redeemer^  as 
the  chief  magistrate  of  our  country.  My  dear  friend,  what  shall 
we  say  of  our  political  delusions  ?  Sometimes  I  reflect  on  it  with 
grief;  sometimes  with  astonishment;  sometimes  with  indigna- 
tion. It  is  a  fact  equally  alarming  and  humiliating,  that  our 
most  morally  and  religiously  disposed  people  are,  in  many 
instances,  the  most  politically  infatuated.  May  a  gracious  God 
discover  to  us  the  cause  of  his  controversy,  and  enable  us  to 
repent  and  return  before  it  be  too  late  !" 


CHAPTEE   VII. 
1801. 

CALL    FOR    MINISTERS. 

Destitution — Measures  for  a  supply — Resolutions  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synod — Mr.  M.  chosen  to  visit  Scotland — Letter  from  Mr.  Bethune — Prominent 
Preachers  in  Scotland — Tabernacle  Party — Ministers  for  America. 

The  want  of  an  adequate  supply  of  religious  teachers  for  this 
country,  has  nowhere  been  more  deeply  felt  than  in  our  Scotch 
settlements.  The  people  of  those  settlements  had  brought  with 
them  from  their  native  shores  the  sentiments  and  habits  which 
had  so  long  happily  prevailed  there,  and  their  adherence  to  them 
was  unusually  strong.  The  seceding  portion  of  them,  espe- 
cially, were  deeply  imbued  with  the  evangelical  spirit,  and 
earnestly  desired  to  strengthen  and  perpetuate  it.  Their  first 
pastors  had  come  from  Scotland ;  and  to  the  same  quarter  their 
eyes  were  naturally  turned  for  such  as  they  still  needed.  This 
resulted,  in  part,  no  doubt,  from  those  feelings  of  nationality 
for  which  the  Scotch  have  always  been  distinguished,  and  in 
part  from  their  zeal  for  what  were  known  among  them  as  the 
"  Marrow  Doctrines  ;"  i.  e.  a  system  taught  by  a  little  volume, 
very  celebrated  in  its  day,  called  "  The  Marrow  of  Modern 
Divinity."  The  same  feelings  which  led  them  to  seek  religious 
instruction,  made  them  particular  respecting  its  character.  Any 
new  phraseology,  or  any  new  mode  of  explaining  divine  truth, 
alarmed  them.  They  found  difficulty  in  accommodating  them- 
selves to  such  views  as  had  begun  to  develop  themselves  in 
some  parts  of  America.  The  same  doctrine  explained  by  un- 
usual methods  is  often  suspected  of  error.  Thus  they  had 
strong  reason  for  desiring  ministers  of  their  own  origin.  They 
had  also  strong  encouragement.  The  churches  which  they  had 
planted  had   greatly  increased,  and  had  in  many  places  pre- 


76  A  DEPUTATION   TO   SCOTLAND. 

pared  the  way  for  more.  Their  success  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
especially,  presented  a  cheering  prospect.  The  cry  for  help 
from  the  people  was  heard,  and  in  1801,  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synod  so  responded  to  it  as  to  send  a  deputation  to  Scotland 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  over  a  supply  of  young  ministers  and 
candidates  ;  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  aid  in  estab- 
lishing a  theological  seminary — a  measure  already  for  several 
years  had  in  contemplation  by  the  Synod. 

June  2,  1801,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  at  a 
meeting  held  in  Philadelphia : 

"  1.  That  a  minister  of  this  church  be  sent  to  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  or  either  of  them,  to  procure  a  competent  number 
of  evangelical  ministers  and  probationers,  and  that  his  expenses 
be  defrayed  from  the  Synodical  fund. 

"  2.  That  he  be  authorised  to  secure  a  number  of  pious  and 
intelligent  students  of  divinity,  who  shall  engage  to  repair,  after 
the  completion  of  their  studies,  to  the  United  States,  and  place 
themselves  under  the  direction  of  this  Synod. 

"  3.  That  he  be  farther  authorised  and  enjoined  to  solicit 
donations  in  money,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  and  maintain- 
ing a  Theological  Seminary  for  the  education  of  youth  for  the 
holy  ministry. 

"  4.  That,  according  as  the  monies  in  his  hand  shall  permit, 
he  be  also  authorised  to  purchase  a  library  for  said  seminary ; 
and  a  collection  of  those  books  which  are  most  needful  and 
useful  for  this  Synod,  to  be  distributed  among  their  ministers 
and  students,  as  shall  hereafter  be  directed;  using  the  advice 
and  counsel  of  judicious  and  godly  ministers  with  regard  to 
the  selection ;  and  that  he  solicit  donations  in  books  for  both 
these  uses." 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Mason  was  chosen  by  ballot  for  this 
mission  ;  and  a  letter  of  instructions  was  furnished  him  by  the 
Moderator. 

The  following  letter,  in  an  abridged  form,  from  a  member  of 
his  church,  written  before  the  author  of  it  knew  anything  of 
the  Synod's  decision  respecting  a  mission  to  Scotland,  contains 
things  decidedly  favourable  to   such  a  measure,  and  various 


MINISTERS  AT  GLASGOW   AND   EDINBURGH.  77 

Other  matters  of  interest  concerning  the  state  of  religion  in 
that  country,  the  character  of  leading  ministers,  and  the 
movements  of  the  Tabernacle  party  : — 

TO  THE  EEV.  J.  M.  MASON. 

Edixburgh,  17th  July,  1801. 

My  Beloved  Friend  :  When  I  wrote  you  from  Liverpool, 
it  was  (as  far  as  I  could  then  see)  from  a  dry  and  parched 
desert.  I  have  since  come  to  my  native  land,  and  find  it, 
notwithstanding  abounding  iniquity,  a  well  watered  country. 
The  first  Sabbath  we  were  in  Glasgow,  most  of  the  regular 
clergy  were  absent,  assisting  at  sacraments ;  and  we  went  to 
the  Tabernacle,  to  hear  Mr.  Ewing.  He  lectured  in  the  morn- 
ing and  preached  in  the  afternoon.  He  is  a  neat,  correct,  and 
ingenious  preacher,  rather  than  a  bold,  animated  and  original 
one.  We  were  much  pleased  with  his  solemnity,  and  his  very 
evangelical,  scriptural,  practical  prayers  in  administering  the 
Lord's  Supper — which  he  does  every  Sabbath. 

Glasgow  is  highly  favoured,  having  nine  or  ten  evangelical 
ministers :  Mr.  Balfour,  Mr.  Lockhart,  Mr.  Love,  (formerly 
Secretary  to  the  London  Missionary  Society),  Mr.  Bigg,  and 
several  others,  among  the  established  clergy.  The  most  cele- 
brated of  all  we  found  to  be  Mr.  Dick,  a  very  eminent  man 
among  the  Burghers. 

Since  our  arrival  here,  I  have  heard  Dr.  Davidson,  Mr.  Jones, 
and  David  Black.  But  of  all  that  I  have  yet  heard  in  this 
country,  take  him  altogether,  Mr.  Balfour  is  my  favourite.  None 
of  them  excel  him  in  spirituality,  close  application  of  the  truth, 
or  evangelical  exposition ;  and  he  excels  them  all  in  elegance 
of  language,  sublimity  of  thought,  and  impressive  animation, 
animation  which,  while  it  warms  both  speaker  and  hearer,  is  so 
tempered  with  judgment,  and  so  blended  with  humility,  as 
never  to  discover  the  least  approach  to  a  dictatorial  or  self-con- 
fident spirit. 

To  this  peculiar  talent,  he  owes  several  seals  of  his  ministry  ; 
especially  Sir  John  Sterling,  once  a  very  wicked  man,  but  now 
a  spiritual,  uniform,  zealous  Christian.  Also  Captain  and  Mrs. 
Clark.  The  former  was  remarkable  for  his  enmity  to  the 
gospel,  for  opposition  to  its  ordinances,  and  for  the  profanation 


78  •  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETY. 

of  the  Sabbath.  They  were  both  awakened  under  the  preaching 
of  Mr.  Balfour :  first  the  wife,  who  had  been  very  gay.  She 
prevailed  upon  her  husband  to  go,  and  he  also  was  caught. 
They  have  now  for  some  years  withdrawn  from  their  former 
dissipations,  and,  being  persons  of  fortune,  have  laid  themselves 
under  requisition  to  Mr.  Balfour,  who  gives  to  every  object  of 
beneficence  whatever  he  thinks  proper  on  their  account. 

I  have  been  agreeably  disappointed  in  finding  such  very 
respectable  Christian  society,  both  here  and  at  Glasgow.  Yet 
if  the  Spirit  of  God  is  lifting  up  a  standard  against  the  open 
enemy,  Satan,  I  think,  is  making  his  secret,  but  potent  attacks 
on  the  hearts  of  God's  own  children.  The  divisions,  the  inno- 
vations, the  changes  occurring  here,  and  creating  disunion 
among  those  who  agree  in  the  great  doctrines  of  salvation,  can 
be  accounted  for  in  no  other  way.  The  Tabernacle  institution 
has  occasioned  the  chief  ferment.  As  I  have  been  a  good  deal 
in  company  with  both  sides,  I  have  endeavoured  to  form  some 
estimate  of  their  differences,  and  of  their  probable  results.  I 
trust  that  Mr.  Ewing  has  acted  from  conscience.  He  is  at  present 
very  zealous,  and  I  hope  will  be  useful.  But  in  the  whole  of 
this  business,  there  has  been,  in  my  opinion,  too  much  of  a 
human  spirit  predominant. 

This  good  has  resulted  from  the  schism  :  It  has  sharpened 
the  edge  of  exertion  among  the  clergy  of  all  denominations  ; 
it  has  proved  the  means  of  preaching  Christ  in  many  places 
where  he  was  not  preached,  and,  as  meek  Mr.  Balfour  says, 
that  bitterness  which  controversy  excites  will,  after  a  while, 
subside,  and  more  union  will  be  given  to  the  operations  of  all. 

Mr.  Ewing  teaches  a  class  of  thirty  young  men  a  system 
which  I  find  approved  by  the  clergy,  and  which  they  recom- 
mend for  your  use  when  you  shall  get  a  colleague. 

I  met  with  Mr.  Robert  Haldane  at  his  father-in-law's,  near 
Glasgow.  He  has  sold  his  fine  landed  estate  for  seventy  thou- 
sand guineas,  and  bought  into  the  fund,  for  the  purpose  of 
being  ready  to  appropriate  his  money  for  promoting  the  inter- 
ests of  religion ;  and  out  of  an  income  of  six  or  seven  thou- 
sand a  year,  he  limits  his  fixmily  to  five  hundred  pounds  ster- 
ling. All  the  rest  goes  to  the  building  and  supporting  taber- 
nacles, and  sending  missionaries  everywhere.     He  has  them  in 


ROBERT  AND  JAMES   FALDANE.  •  79 

Denmark,  and  feels  interested  for  America.  lie  says  that  we 
have  the  means  within  ourselves  in  America,  if  we  had  only 
the  spirit.  I  am  to  see  him  again  on  his  return  to  Edinburgh, 
and  will  get  him  to  write  to  some  of  you  on  the  subject. 

Dr.  Davidson  (though  the  most  opposed  of  all  the  evangeli- 
cal clergy  to  the  Tabernacle  innovation)  seemed  to  think  that 
some  of  those  taught  by  Mr.  Ewing,  and  who  had  previously 
received  a  classical  education,  might  suit  our  body.  I  think 
otherwise,  and  should  feel  averse  to  introduce  men  not  con- 
firmed in  their  attachment  to  our  system  of  government.  Our 
hopes  at  present  must  be  from  the  burghers.  I  enclose  you  a 
letter  recevied  from  Mr.  Smart  at  Stirling,  respecting  his 
brother.  There  are  others  also  recently  licensed,  but  not  so 
distinguished.  Being  scattered  up  and  down  the  country  it  is 
impossible  for  a  transient  person  like  me  to  become  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  them  for  our  purpose. 

Since  my  arrival  here,  I  am  more  convinced  of  the  propriety 
and  even  necessity  of  your  taking  a  trip  to  this  country  in  or- 
der to  obtain  some  able  young  men  for  our  churches,  and  to 
arrange  a  regular  correspondence  for  the  same  object.  I  find 
them  affectionately  disposed  towards  us  in  America,  Your  re- 
membrance is  cherished  among  them,  and  they  are  pleased  and 
interested  in  your  success. 

There  are  several  valuable  young  men  coming  out  in  the 
establishment;  but  they  say,  and  with  justice,  too,  that  they 
are  wanted  among  themselves.  I  shall  make  some  bold  attacks 
on  young  Mr.  Smart,  but  without  particular  reference  to  New 
York,  as  I  think  it  not  improbable  that  Mr.  Young  may  have 
been  acceptable  there.  I  am  extremely  anxious  to  hear  on 
this  subject  from  you. 

Since  I  began  this,  I  have  been  to  hear  Mr.  James  Haldane 
open  the  new  Tabernacle.  While  I  value  his  piety  and  regard 
him  as  a  signal  monument  of  divine  grace,  I  am  now  more 
confirmed  in  the  opinion  that  the  Tabernacle  preachers  are  not 
fitted  for  settlement  as  regular  pastors.  Though  a  man  of 
some  literary  attainments  and  of  sound  -sense,  his  style  of 
preaching  is  better  adapted  to  useful  itinerancy  than  to  the 
building  up  a  church.  I  am  quite  at  a  loss  to  understand  from 
what  motives  judicious,  food-loving  Christians,  could  leave  good 


80  •  THE   TABEENACLE   MEN. 

Gospel  ministers,  such  as  they  have  left,  to  be  under  the  min- 
istry of  Mr.  Haldane.  I  wish  we  had  a  twelvemonth's  tour 
from  him  through  America.  He  might  be  useful  in  White- 
field's  manner.  He  has  not  gone  so  far  as  Mr.  Ewing  in  one 
thing.  He  administers  the  Lord's  Supper  only  once  a  month. 
It  is  remarkable  that  he  and  his  brother,  with  both  their  wives, 
were  all  awakened  together. 

Your  good  uncle,  Mr.  Mason,  who  is  very  highly  and  justly 
esteemed  here,  has  prevailed  on  us  to  take  up  our  abode  at  his 
house,  which,  during  a  time  of  tumult — the  race  week — has 
been  an  additional  satisfaction  to  us.  His  family,  except 
Agnes,  are  all  at  Mouse-bank,  near  Lanark.  Mr.  Mason  was 
highly  pleased. and  agreeably  surprised  with  Euphemia's  letter. 

Give  my  affectionate  regards  to  all  our  dear  Christian  breth- 
ren, and  believe  me  ever  your  very  affectionate  friend  and 
servant, 

DIVIE  BETHUNK 

P.  S. — On  reading  over  what  I  have  written,  I  think  I  have 
given  you  too  harsh  a  picture  of  the  Tabernacle  men,  and  I 
must  request  you  to  apply  my  remarks  rather  against  the  sys- 
tem, than  the  persons  engaged.  Mr.  Ewing,  who  has  borne 
the  brunt  of  the  battle,  had  many  things  to  call  forth  all  his 
energy  in  his  own  defence,  and  perhaps  to  tempt  his  asperity. 
Many  things  in  the  establishment  were  contrary  to  his  views. 
When  he  broke  off,  they  all  attacked  him.  The  majority  of 
the  General  Assembly,  being  strangers  to  gracious  principles, 
and  no  less  ignorant  of  human  nature,  tliought  to  crush  the 
Tabernacle  by  the  arm  of  power.  This  was  not  effectually 
opposed  by  the  evangelical  ministry.  These  things  tended  to 
rouse  in  Mr.  Ewing  any  latent  sparks  of  "the  old  man,''  and 
produce  acrimony  on  his  part.  I  say  this  for  fear  I  may  pre- 
judice you  against  them.  What  have  we,  in  America,  to  do 
with  disputes  pertaining  to  establishments,  or  with  departures 
from  them  ?  Let  us  see  to  it,  that  our  friends  possess  the  love 
of  Christ.  If  this  constrains  them  to  sell  all  and  follow  him — 
if  love  for  souls  moves  them  to  go  forth  out  of  the  camp,  bear- 
ing the  reproach  of  our  Redeemer,  and  to  employ  all  their 
time,  energy  and  substance,  in  publishing  his  salvation — let 
us,  forgetting  trivial  difference,   take  them  to  our  hearts  and 


MR.    HALDANE'S   great   OBJECT.  81 

bid  them  God  speed.  This  we  may  do  without  imbibing  or 
following  what  may  appear  erroneous  in  their  system.  Messrs. 
Haldane  and  Aickman  are  certainly  precious  men  of  God. 
Eobert  Haldane  has  set  a  glorious  example.  Says  he,  "  Much 
money  is  laid  out  for  temporal  comforts ;  the  benevolent  of 
this  world  take  care  of  public  institutions  for  the  bodies  of 
men,  but  are  not  their  souls  more  precious?"  He  sold  one  of 
the  most  enchanting  seats  in  Scotland,  and  gave  all  np,  having 
his  wishes  centered  on  "  the  inheritance  of  the  Saints  in  light." 
I  love  him  in  my  heart  for  this. 

D.  B. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
1801. 

MISSION    TO    SCOTLAND. 

Arrival — Reception  at  Greenock — At  Glasgow — At  Edinburgh — Meets  a  Com- 
mittee— Visits  Selkirk — Letter  to  James  Patterson — An  Incident — Memorial 
to  the  Synod's  Committee — Their  Action — Visits  Stirling — Preaches  in  Ebe- 
nezer  Erskine's  Pulpit. 

Pursuant  to  his  appointment,  Mr.  Mason,  on  the  29th  of  July, 
embarked  at  New  York,  and  on  the  2d  of  September  landed  at 
Greenock.  His  report  to  the  Synod  on  his  return,  the  next 
year,  together  with  letters  to  his  friends,  give  the  leading  de- 
tails of  his  agency  while  abroad. 

The  cordiality  with  which  he  was  received,  immediately  upon 
landing,  is  feelingly  described  in  a  confidential  letter  written  at 
the  time.  And  though  the  public  may  have  no  direct  interest 
in  a  private  correspondence,  yet,  when  such  a  correspondence 
supplies  some  necessarj^  links  in  a  narrative  like  the  present, 
and  at  the  same  time  furnishes  some  of  the  best  indices  to  the 
real  character  of  an  individual,  respecting  whom  public  curi- 
osity is  awake,  we  can  hardly  render  a  better  service  than  by 
inserting  portions  of  it.  Indeed  the  greatest  defect  of  biogra- 
phies often  consists  in  not  disclosing  enough  of  their  subjects  as 
they  appear  in  their  domestic  relations,  and  in  their  unguarded 
moments.  We  wish  to  accompany  distinguished  men  into 
their  retirement,  and  to  learn  what  thoughts  and  feelings  oc- 
cupy their  minds  when  screened  from  the  keen  eye  of  the 
world's  observation.  At  any  rate,  we  feel  confident  that  no 
one  who  has  ever  heard  of  Dr.  Mason  will  have  any  objection 
to  an  occasional  peep  into  his  family  letters  of  this  period.  We 
begin  with  the  following  : — 


SCOTTISH   HOSPITALITY.  •         83 


TO  MRS.  MASON. 

BisnopTON-HousE,  ten  miles  from  Greenock, 
September  4th,  1801. 

The  heart  of  my  beloved  Nancy  will  witness  to  lier  the 
pleasure  I  experience  in  finding  a  conveyance  for  New  York 
so  soon  as  Monday  the  7tli  inst.  Through  the  unspeakable 
kindness  of  God  our  Saviour,  I  arrived  at  Greenock  the  day 
before  yesterday.  The  politeness  and  attention  of  Captain 
Reynolds  have  imposed  on  me  no  small  obligation.  The  un- 
interrupted harmony  of  the  passengers  beguiled  the  hours  at 
sea,  and  health  without  the  least  indisposition,  enabled  me  to 
enjoy  the  comforts  of  my  situation.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
affectionate  welcome  I  received  at  Greenock.  During  my  stay 
of  a  day  and  a  half,  the  good  people  vied  with  each  other  in 
their  friendly  offices  to  me.  I  did  not  know,  nor  even  suspect 
how  much  I  was  indebted  to  the  civilities  of  Mr.  Colin  Gilles- 
pie. He  had  given  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  his  father, 
containing  three  or  four  lines  ;  but  without  my  knowledge  had 
written  to  him  in  a  very  different  style  in  another  letter.  You 
may  easily  imagine  how  agreeably  I  was  surprised  at  finding 
the  old  gentleman  in  Greenock  the  morning  after  my  landing. 
On  the  receipt  of  Colin's  letter,  he  lost  no  time,  but  set  out  at 
six  o'clock  the  next  morning  with  his  very  amiable  wife,  in  their 
post-chaise,  on  purpose  to  bring  me  to  their  mansion.  He 
would  take  neither  denial  nor  delay,  but  as  soon  as  I  had  got 
my  baggage  on  shore,  hurried  me  off,  with  my  friend  Tillary, 
to  his  seat  at  Bishopton.  This  place,  which  is  very  beautifully 
situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Clyde,  formerly  belonged  to  Lord 
Temple,  and  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Gillespie  for  upwards  of 
70,000  dollars.  His  son  Richard,  and  son-in-law,  Mr.  Sheriff, 
one  of  my  old  acquaintances,  came  immediately  from  Glasgow 
to  secure  my  residence  with  them,  about  a  mile  from  that  city. 
They  send  down  for  us  to-morrow  morning.  In  fitct  we  are 
almost  overwhelmed  with  their  goodness. 

Goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  us  all  the  days  of  our 
lives.  You  will  join  me  in  the  tribute  of  thanksgiving  to  our 
Father  in  Heaven  for  his  gracious  care  of  me.  For  you  and 
our  dear  babes  I  have  no  distrustful  anxiety.     Having  left  you 


84        .  MINISTERS   OF   GLASGOW. 

all  in  the  hands  of  Israel's  Keeper,  he  is  to  look  after  jou.  The 
promise  is  sure — "  The  Lord  will  give  that  which  is  good." 
This  is  enough  ;  may  he  vouchsafe  active  faith  to  live  in  the 
consolation  of  it.  Kiss  the  children  for  me,  and  tell  them  I 
hope  they  are  good,  obedient  children,  and  do  not  forget  to 
read  their  Bibles,  learn  their  texts,  catechisms,  and  hymns,  and 
to  pray. 

Your  ever  affectionate, 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

The  day  after  the  last  date  he  went  to  Glasgow,  where  he 
experienced  no  less  kindness,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of 
such  men  as  the  Eev.  John  Dick,  well  known  as  the  author  of 
several  Theological  works ;  the  Eev.  Dr.  Eobert  Balfour,  of 
the  High  Church,  a  minister  of  great  excellence  and  command- 
ing influence,  already  favourably  noticed  by  Mr.  Bethune ;  and 
of  the  Eev.  Alexander  Pirie,  of  the  Grey-Friar  Chapel,  also 
distinguished  for  his  many  virtues  and  useful  labours.  They 
were  all  among  those  eminent  ministers  of  the  Gospel  who 
were  ever  afterwards  remembered  by  him  with  the  most  cor- 
dial respect  and  esteem — feelings  which  we  have  reason  to 
know  were  as  cordially  reciprocated, 

Next  we  find  him  embosomed  in  the  warm-hearted  welcomes 
of  his  relatives  in  the  vicinity  of  Edinburgh.  The  following 
letter  will  not  offend  the  eye  of  any  who  have  ever  experienced 
the  overflowing  of  kindred  emotions : — 

TO  MES.  MASON. 

EDiNBfRGir,  September  lOtli,  1801. 

I  WROTE  you,  my  dearest  Nancy,  from  Bishopton,  on  the  4tli 
inst.  by  the  Recovery^  Captain  Campbell.  I  hope  you  will 
have  received  that  letter  before  the  arrival  of  this,  as  it  con- 
tained the  account  of  my  landing  at  Greenock,  and  reception 
by  the  good  people  there.  Through  infinite  mercy  my  health 
is  continued ;  and  I  am  as  happy  with  my  numerous  and  affec- 
tionate friends  as  can  be  conciliated  with  absence  from  what- 
ever is  most  precious  to  me  in  this  world.  From  Bishopton  I 
proceeded  to  Glasgow,  on  the  5th,  and  was,  so  to  speak,  over- 
whelmed with  kindness.  My  next  route  was  to  Lanark,  where 
my  uncle  has  a  beautiful  little  country  seat.     I  cannot  describe 


HIS   uncle's   family — VISITS   SELKIRK.  85 

the  scene  when  I  alighted  from  my  horse.  Mj  dear  uncle  was 
so  affected  that  he  could  not  speak.  He  held  me  a  long  time 
in  his  arms ;  and  I  really  thought  he  would  have  fainted.  He 
did  not  recover  his  composure  for  nearly  two  days.  My  aunt, 
tender,  vivacious,  and  humorous  as  ever,  though  much  afflicted 
some  time  since  with  bad  health,  greatly  contributed  to  the  re- 
lief of  us  both.  While  the  united  and  repeated  exclamation 
of  0  cousin !  O  cousin  !  from  the  three  girls,  most  pleasingly 
varied  the  scene.  I  have  not  leisure  to  give  you  any  account 
at  present  of  that  most  romantic  spot  where  my  uncle's  place 
is — Mousebank.  If  I  do  not  forget  it,  I  shall  do  this  hereafter. 
From  Mousebank  I  came  to  Edinburgh,  the  14th  inst.  All 
my  old  friends  vied  with  each  other  in  expressions  of  affection- 
ate good-will.  My  public  business  looks  well  thus  far.  I  am 
going  in  a  few  minutes  for  Selkirk,  where  the  Eev.  Mr.  Lawson 
instructs  the  students  in  Divinity  belonging  to  the  Burgher 
Synod. 

You  may  easily  judge  my  surprise  at  finding  that  nearly  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  letters  I  have  written  to  my  friends  here  have 
never  been  received,  and  that  they  have  sent  many  letters  and 
parcels  to  me,  of  which  none  have  come  to  hand  these  two  years. 

Ever  affectionately, 

JOHN   M.  MASON. 

On  reaching  Edinburgh  he  ascertained  that  the  Associate 
(Burgher)  Synod,  which  had  lately  met  there,  anticipating  his 
arrival  and  purpose,  had  appointed  a  Committee  to  confer  with 
him  on  the  subject  of  his  mission,  and  to  adopt  such  measures 
as  might  appear  expedient  and  jjroper.  With  this  Committee 
he  had  an  interview  on  the  17th  September.  Accrediting  him 
as  a  Eepresentative  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  they 
recommended  an  immediate  visit  to  the  Divinity  Hall  of  the 
Synod,  that  he  might  h^ve  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with 
the  students  before  the  expiration  of  the  session.  He  accord- 
ingly rejoaired  to  Selkirk,  and  laid  before  the  Professor,  the 
Rev.  George  Lawson,  a  memorial  as  follows  : — 

*    Selkirk,  Sept.  24,  1801. 

Rev.  Sir:  Being  authorized  by  the  Associate  Reformed 
Synod  of  North  America  to  invite  a  number  of  ministers  and 


86  ASSOCIATE   REFORMED   CHURCH. 

probationers  to  labour  among  tlieir  churches  in  word  and  doc- 
trine, and  to  secure,  if  possible  some  students  of  piety  and 
abilit}^,  who  shall,  after  completing  the  requisite  course,  repair 
to  America  with  the  same  intention,  and  the  plan  having 
received  the  hearty  concurrence  of  the  Committee  of  your 
Synod,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  present  to  you,  and  through  you, 
to  your  pupils,  a  brief  memorial,  which  may  serve  as  a  basis  for 
their  opinions  and  their  conduct. 

The  church  which  I  represent,  formed  by  a  union  of  ministers 
and  people  from  both  branches  of  the  Secession,  and  from  the 
Reformed  Presbytery,  harmonizes  with  the  Burgher  Synod,  not 
only  in  their  general  principles  of  doctrine,  government,  worship 
and  discipline,  but  also  in  their  more  particular  views  of  subjects 
which  have  caused  unhappy  litigation  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic.  In  the  steady  maintenance  of  evangelical  truth  and 
purity,  she  has,  through  the  good  hand  of  her  God  upon  her, 
gone  on  and  prospered.  Large  accessions  of  members  have 
been  made  to  her  communion,  and  numerous  congregations 
erected.  With  much  difficulty  and  many  embarrassments,  the 
ordinances  of  the  Gospel  have  been  so  far  and  so  successfully 
dispensed  among  them,  as  to  prepare  them  for  supporting  stated 
pastors.  Though  many  of  them  have  been  settled,  yet  the 
increase  has  been  so  rapid  as  to  outstrip  every  effort  to  meet 
their  wants.  At  this  moment  there  are,  ripe  for  settlement, 
about  sixteen  congregations,  which  would  welcome,  with  grati- 
tude and  joy,  the  faithful  messenger  of  Jesus  Christ.  Besides 
these,  there  is  a  much  greater  number  of  infant  vacancies,  which) 
so  far  as  regards  human  agencies,  require  only  nurturing  to 
become,  in  a  short  time,  respectable  and  flourishing  societies. 
The  exigencies  of  both  are  pressing,  and  their  applications  for 
supply  importunate.  No  exertion  has  been  omitted  on  the  part 
of  the  Synod  ;  but  every  exertion  is  inadequate,  and  every  day 
augments  the  disproportion  between  "the  necessities  of  their 
churches  and  their  ability  to  relieve  them.  Matters  are  now 
brought  to  a  crisis  which  cannot  terminate  favourably  without  an 
accession  of  ministerial  aid.  It  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect, 
that  settled  congregations  will  endure  much  longer  the  absence 
of  their  pastors,  several  months  in  the  year,  supplying  vacancies. 
Vacancies  themselves  must  languish  under  partial  and  irregular 


INTENTION  AND   PLANS   FOR  RELIEF.  8? 

ministrations  of  the  gospel.  They  do  languish;  and  although 
many  of  them  have  displayed  much  patience  and  perseverance, 
yet,  as  hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick,  repeated  disap- 
pointments will  at  last  shake  the  firmest  purpose,  and  despond- 
ence succeeding  to  trial,  will  either  alienate  their  minds,  or, 
what  is  worse,  break  up  their  society  altogether.  Nor  is  this 
melancholy  issue  without  example.  In  short,  the  Synod  is 
placed  in  that  most  awkward  and  aiSicting  situation  in  which  it 
is  almost  alike  hazardous  to  stop,  or  to  proceed.  The  conse- 
quences, therefore,  of  failure  in  the  mission  with  which  I  have 
the  honour  to  be  entrusted,  will  in  all  probabilitj^,  be  such  as 
cannot  be  anticipated  without  dismay,  because  they  will  be  such 
as  no  human  expedient  will  remain  to  avert.  A  considerable 
number  of  ministers  is,  of  course,  indispensable.  The  Synod 
indeed,  contemplate  as  an  object  of  the  utmost  importance,  and 
which  they  will  spare  no  pains  to  accomplish,  the  erection  of  a 
seminary  for  training  up  youth  for  the  holy  ministry.  But  it 
is  obvious  that  if  they  should  succeed  in  the  immediate  execution 
of  their  design,  several  years  must  elapse  before  its  fruits  can 
be  matured.  Even  those  ministers  or  probationers  who  may 
now  consent  to  embark  for  America,  will  afford  but  a  temporary, 
though  a  most  seasonable  relief  In  the  mean  time,  new  con- 
gregations are  preparing  for  pastors,  much  more  rapidly  than 
pastors  can  be  prepared  for  them.  I  have  therefore  to  request, 
in  behalf  of  our  American  churches,  that  students  in  the  several 
periods  of  the  course  observed  in  the  Hall  over  which  you  pre- 
side, would  seriously  consider,  and,  in  their  most  solemn  and 
spiritual  hours,  would  spread  before  the  throne  of  God,  the 
apparent  call  of  His  providence  to  repair,  at  the  expiration  of 
their  term  of  study,  to  the  United  States,  and  be  fellow  workers 
with  Him  in  building  up  His  temple  in  that  great  continent. 

As  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  none  of  your  students  think  of  the 
Christian  ministry  from  any  other  principle  than  experience  of 
the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  its  living  efficacy  upon 
their  hearts,  and  an  honest  intention  of  glorifying  Him,  not 
seeking  their  own  profit,  but  the  profit  of  many  that  they  may 
be  saved ;  so  I  beg  leave,  dear  sir,  to  assure  them,  in  the  most 
explicit  manner,  that  no  others  are  desired  by  any  of  our 
churches.     Such    as   are  willing   to  spend  and  be  spent   in 


88  MOTIVES  AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS. 

the  service  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  resolved  to  follow  him 
through  good  and  through  bad  report,  contending  earnestly  for 
the  fiiith  once  delivered  to  the  saints — such  as  are  reconciled  to 
his  cross  and  will  not  refuse  to  venture  their  persons  and  their 
hopes  upon  His  finished  work,  His  gracious,  and  His  unutter- 
able love — sucli  as  are  decisively  attached  to  the  Presbyterian 
system  of  church  government,  as  his  ordinance,  will  be  received 
with  open  arms,  and  cherished,  I  trust,  with  Christian  affection. 

The  inducement  which  I  have  to  offer  them  is  not  the  ease  or 
opulence  of  this  world.  It  is  the  prospect  of  usefulness  in  the 
church  of  God,  usefulness  more  extensive  perhaps  than  can  be 
expected  in  any  other  situation.  It  is  the  sacred  heroism  of 
denying  themselves,  and  braving  difficult}^,  reproach,  and  peril, 
for  the  name  of  Jesus.  It  is  that  recompense  of  reward  which 
the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  will  bestow  upon  them,  who, 
from  love  to  his  salvation,  from  obedience  to  his  will,  from 
tender  compassion  to  the  souls  of  men,  can  forego  every  other 
consideration,  and,  with  something  of  the  spirit  of  an  apostle, 
set  themselves  for  the  defence  of  the  gospel.  Whoever  wish  to 
preach  Christ  in  America,  must  cast  themselves  upon  His  word 
and  providence  for  their  worldly  weal.  Yet,  while  I  make 
these  frank  declarations,  that  no  man  may  be  deceived  by  false 
expectations,  I  feel  safe  in  expressing  a  persuasion  that  the 
exchange,  even  in  respect  of  temporal  comfort,  will,  in  many 
instances,  be  found  advantageous,  and  that  there  is  little  danger 
of  its  turning  out  for  the  worse  in  any. 

On  this  subject,  Kev.  and  dear  Sir,  the  deepest  anxieties  of 
our  churches  are  interested.  Of  your  cordial  cooperation  in 
every  proper  manner  and  extent,  the  experience  I  have  already 
had  of  your  good-will  does  not  permit  me  to  doubt.  Impedi- 
ments, I  am  aware,  will  arise  ;  natural  attachment  to  country 
and  home — the  reluctance  of  dear  relatives — the  machinations 
of  the  adversary,  who  will  not  fail  to  employ  all  his  address 
and  malignity  to  defect  whatever  bodes  ill  to  his  reign  of  dark- 
ness— will  create  trouble  and  conflict  to  the  most  disinterested 
and  intrepid.  Yet  my  hope  is,  that  as  the  dispensation  of 
Providence,  which  has  occasioned  the  present  application,  is 
singular  and  pointed  ;  as  it  is  not  the  first  time  that  God  has 
commanded  his  servants :  "Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and 


RETURNS  TO   EDINBURGH.  89 

from  tliy  kindred,  and  from  tliy  father's  house ;"  as  obstacles 
are  often  thrown  in  their  way  to  try  their  faith  and  love.  Every 
resistance  will  yield  to  the  sentence  of  the  master  :  "  lie  that 
loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me  ; 
and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter  more  than  me  is  not  worthy 
of  me.  He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth 
his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  And  while  the  voice  from 
the  holiest  of  all,  demands  :  "  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will 
go  for  us  ?"  a  goodly  number  of  those  whose  heart  God  hath 
touched,  will,  without  hesitation,  reply,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me." 
With  the  most  unfeigned  esteem, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

"  This  memorial,"  his  Report  continues,  "the  Professor  com- 
municated to  the  students,  and,  entering  heartily  into  the 
views  which  it  developes,  supported  them  with  his  own  influ- 
ence, and  afterwards  wrote  a  paper,  enforcing  in  the  most  earn- 
est manner,  the  request  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church. 
The  intercourse  which,  during  several  days,  I  had  with  the 
students,  and  the  specimens  of  correct  principle,  literary  acquire- 
ment, and  pulpit  talent,  which  they  exhibited  in  the  exercises 
delivered  daring  my  stay  at  Selkirk,  made  me  more  anxious 
than  before  to  engage  a  number  of  them  for  the  service  of  our 
churches.  But  as  an  immediate  decision  on  so  important  a 
proposition  was  not  to  be  expected,  I  submitted  it  to  their  de- 
liberation, and  returned  to  Edinburgh." 

The  tenor  of  his  conversations  with  the  students  at  Selkirk 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  letter  addressed  to  one  of 
them,  who  had  given  his  consent  to  go,  though  afterwards  pre- 
vented by  an  insidious  disease  which  at  last  proved  fatal ; — 

TO  MR.  JAMES  PATTERSON. 
My  dear  Sir  :  The  emotions  which  you  connect  with  the 
idea  of  leaving  country  and  kindred,  are  such  as  naturally  affect 
an  ingenuous  mind  ;  and  your  determination,  such  as  I  was  in- 
clined to  augur  from  one  who  has  learned  to  sacrifice  every 
other  consideration  to  the  honour  of  our  redeeming  God.  I 
tender  you  my  thanks,  dear  Sir,  for  taking  the  lead  in  a  service 
so  disinterested  as  that  which  my  proposition  to  you  contem- 
plates.    I  hope  that  no  untoward  circumstance  will  occur  either 


90  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   SCOTCH   CHURCHES. 

to  sliake  your  resolution,  or  hinder  you  from  executing  it.  1 
hope  also,  that  your  example,  and  the  self-denial  of  your  aged 
father,  will  not  be  without  their  influence  upon  other  young 
men  who  are  attached  to  you  by  the  ties  both  of  religious 
study  and  personal  regard  ;  as  well  as  upon  parents  and  rela- 
tives who  cannot  be  called  to  harder  sacrifices  than  your  own. 

With  respect  to  your  questions,  which  are  altogether  proper, 
accept  the  following  answers : 

The  Congregations  now  ripe  for  settlement  in  our  connexion 
are  distributed  over  a  great  part  of  the  States,  They  and  the 
younger  vacancies  are  to  be  found  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee.  Five  are  in  populous  cities ;  seven  in 
flourishing  towns  ;  several  in  thickly  settled  places  in  the  coun- 
try ;  some  also  in  a  more  secluded  situation.  These,  however, 
are  principally  in  new  settlements  which  meliorate  their  condi- 
tion every  day.  The  people  are  strongly  attached  to  the  pecu- 
liar doctrine  of  the  Gospel  and  to  Presbyterial  church  govern- 
ment. Irregular  sectaries  make  very  little  impression  upon  our 
congregations.  You  can  easily  form  an  opinion  of  their  general 
habits  when  you  know  that  a  great  proportion  of  them 
come  from  your  own  connexion.  They  are  surrounded  with 
error  and  infidelity.  The  preachers  usually  receive  their  ap- 
pointments from  the  Presbytery  to  which  they  belong  ;  but  they 
are  often  directed  by  the  Synod  which  has  the  paramount 
authority.  They  are  not  at  much  expense  in  supplying  vacan- 
cies, and  receive  compensation  for  their  labours,  but  this,  you 
will  observe  must  vary  with  the  situation  of  vacancies  as  they 
are  more  or  less  advanced.  The  exact  provision  which  congre- 
gations make  for  their  ministers,  I  cannot  state,  but  from  every 
inquiry,  think  it  does  not  average  less,  but  rather  more  than  is 
common  among  the  churches  of  the  Secession.  It  is  usually 
paid  in  money,  though  there  is  frequently  added  to  the  pecu- 
niary maintenance,  an  engagement  to  furnish  some  articles  of 
prime  necessity,  such  as  fad.  In  the  new  settlements,  if  I  do 
not  mistake,  laud  accompanies  the  stipend.  At  any  rate  it  is 
cheap  there ;  and  so  is  subsistence.  The  greatest  inconvenience 
which  a  minister  encounters  on  this  score  is  irregular  payment 
dn  some  country  places.     His  congregation  is  sometimes  com-  • 


POPULARITY — AN   INCIDENT.  91 

posed  of  parts  which  do  not  lie  contiguous,  and  among  which 
he  divides  his  labours  on  terms  of  agreement  entered  into  when 
he  receives  his  call.  To  be  useful  and  beloved  in  our 
churches,  a  minister  must  preach  plainly  and  faithfully,  and 
apply  to  the  consciences  of  his  hearers  the  downright,  Marrow 
doctrines  of  the  Confession  and  Catechisms.  He  must  "  know 
nothing  among  them  hut  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucifiedy  His 
soul  must  be  in  his  Master's  work,  and  there  will  be  no  danger 
of  his  being  unacceptable. 

J.  M.  MASON. 

On  his  return  to  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Mason  preached  before 
"  the  Society  for  the  Belief  of  Destitute  Sick,"  his  sermon  en- 
titled "Living  Faith;"  which  was  published,  and  may  be  found 
in  the  first  volume  of  his  Works. 

The  popularity  which  he  had  attained  may  be  illustrated  by 
an  occurrence  reported  by  one  who  witnessed  the  scene.  As 
he  preached  on  a  Sabbath  forenoon  in  one  of  the  churches  of 
the  city,  it  was  understood  that  in  the  afternoon  he  was  to  ex- 
change with  the  Rev.  Mr.  P.  Though  most  of  his  hearers  had 
heard  nothing  of  him  before,  they  were  all  so  completely  car- 
ried away  with  his  eloquence,  that  immediately  on  the  close  of 
the  service,  by  a  general  impulse  they  rushed  over  and  filled 
Mr.  P.'s  church,  and  actually  waited  there  during  the  whole  of 
the  intermission,  in  order  to  make  sure  of  the  afternoon  hearing. 
When  the  congregation  of  the  latter  assembled  they  were  sur- 
prised to  find  their  seats  occupied,  and  to  be  coolly  told  that 
their  own  minister  (whom  they  greatly  loved  and  admired)  was 
to  preach  at  the  other  place,  where  they  might  hear  him ! 

After  his  visit  to  Selkirk,  Mr.  Mason  gave  the  Committee  at 
Edinburgh  a  copy  of  his  memorial  to  the  Professor,  and  accom- 
panied it  with  an  additional  communication,  as  follows  : — 

TO  THE  REV.  JAMES  HALL,  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
ASSOCIATE  SYNOD. 

E.EV.  Sir  :  I  do  myself  the  honour  to  enclose,  for  the  perusal 
of  your  Committee,  a  copy  of  a  paper  which  I  lately  presented 
to  the  Rev.  Professor  Lawson.  Besides  the  considerations 
which  are  therein  addressed  to  the  students,  I  beg  leave  to  sug- 
gest a  few  others,  v/hich  may  tend  to  impress  more  strongly 


92  MEMORIAL   TO   THE   COMMITTEE. 

upon  the  minds  of  the  Committee,  the  importance  of  the  objects 
which  my  mission  contemplates. 

Many  of  the  congregations  which  are  now  waiting  for  pas- 
tors, and  the  greater  number  of  vacancies  not  yet  matured,  are 
in  those  parts  of  the  United  States  which  have  beeu  recently 
settled.  An  inviting  climate  and  a  fertile  soil  must,  in  the  or- 
dinary course  of  things,  attract  thither  multitudes  of  new  in 
habitants.  This  circumstance,  added  to  the  facility  of  procuring 
subsistence,  which  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  causes  of  increase 
in  the  human  species,  will  shortly  produce  a  population  in- 
credible to  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with  existing  facts. 
In  this  view,  the  Westeryi  countries  especially,  of  America,  pre- 
sent a  subject  of  most  interesting  speculation  to  the  philosopher 
and  to  the  Christian.  The  importance  of  instilling  into  the 
early  societies  which  are  erected  there,  sound  religious  princi- 
ples, and  of  training  thejn  up  in  correct  moral  habits,  is  too 
evident  to  require  proof.  And  although  no  denomination  of 
Christians  may  be  able  to  do  as  much  as  could  be  wished  for 
the  attainment  of  this  end,  yet  the  effects  resulting  ultimately 
from  the  exertions  of  any  one  of  them  may  far  exceed  the  most 
sanguine  expectation.  Every  congregation  under  the  care  of 
an  evangelical  pastor,  becomes  a  centre,  from  which  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Gospel  is  more  or  less  diffused.  New  societies, 
collecting  by  degrees,  naturally  assume  the  form  and  imbibe 
the  principles  of  those  in  whose  vicinity  they  are  erected. 
Under  such  circumstances,  truth  has  at  least  a  wider  range,  and 
a  fairer  prospect  of  success,  than  in  places  where  discordant 
professions  have  descended,  by  inheritance,  from  sire  to  son,  and 
being  incorporated  with  their  habits,  both  restrict  their  inter- 
course and  control  their  opinions. 

Proportional  to  the  magnitude  of  the  object  is  the  necessity 
for  loorkmen  ivho  need  not  he  ashamed.  The  popular  opinion, 
that  any  sincere  and  orthodox  preacher  is  competent  to  plant 
new  churches,  and  water  such  as  have  been  lately  planted,  has 
done  infinite  mischief  to  the  Christian  cause,  as  congregations 
first  formed  will  probably  be  models  for  others,  too  much  care 
cannot  be  employed  in  organizing  them  according  to  the  scrip- 
tural pattern. 

A  consideration  of  serious  moment  in  regard  to  the  Associate 


IMPORTANCE   OF   AN  ABLE   MINISTRY.  98 

Reformed  Churcli  is,  that  tliough.  of  recent  establishment,  she 
is  growing  in  numbers  and  repute.  Societies,  like  individ- 
uals, being  flexile  in  their  infancy,  but  of  difficult  correction 
in  their  advanced  years,  it  is  all-important  to  a  rising  church, 
that  her  ministry  be  intelligent  as  well  as  pure.  It  will  not 
only  be  her  strength  and  ornament,  but  will  fix  a  proper  stand- 
ard of  ministerial  character  for  times  to  come.  Men  who  are 
themselves  scribes  well  instructed  in  the  Icingdom  of  Ood^  will 
have  both  the  inclination  and  ability  to  see  that  their  succes- 
sors partake  of  their  capacities  and  acquisitions.  And  it  is  too 
obvious  to  admit  of  dispute,  that,  other  things  being  equal,  the 
ablest  ministry  will  do  most  honour  tp  the  gospel,  and  most 
benefit  to  the  souls  of  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  effects  of 
an  illiterate,  ineflScient  ministry  have  been  too  severely  felt 
in  many  parts  of  the  church  not  to  be  deprecated  by  all  who 
understand  and  love  her  peace. 

The  rank  which  America  must  one  day  hold  among  the 
nations,  renders  her  political  and  moral  institutions  of  general 
concern.  Of  this  infidel  reformers  are  aware ;  and  in  no  quar- 
ter of  the  world  have  her  emissaries  been  more  active  in  dis- 
seminating their  poison,  Thej^  know  too,  that  there  is  little 
hope  of  overturning  Christianity,  and  of  inflicting  upon  the 
world  those  plagues  which  would  follow  her  ruin,  so  long-  as 
her  ministry  retains  its  respectability  and  influence.  This,  of 
course,  must  encounter  their  most  inveterate  hostility ;  and 
hence  arises  an  additional  reason  for  ministerial  ability.  The 
Committee  cannot  fail  to  perceive  the  conclusion  which  I  wish 
them  to  draw,  that  the  churches  I  represent,  have  a  claim  upon 
their  sister  churches  here,  for  preachers  of  talent  as  well  as 
piety. 

As  local  separation  cannot  alter  the  nature  of  truth,  or  de- 
stroy the  communion  of  saints,  I  cherish  the  hope  that  your 
reverend  body  Avill  consider,  as  their  own,  the  interests 
of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod.  An  effectual  door  of 
usefulness  being  opened  for  them,  and  the  promotion  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  being  the  common  object,  it  is  a  matter  of 
inferior  moment  to  both,  on  which  side  of  the  Atlantic  he  is 
glorified.  If  His  church  prosper,  all  will  rejoice.  In  sending 
one  of  her  ministers  to  represent  her  necessities  on  the  spot, 


94  RESOLUTION   OF   THE   COMMITTEE. 

the  Associate  Eeformed  Churcli  has  given  the  strongest  proof 
in  her  power,  that  she  is  in  serious  earnest.  By  seconding  lier 
apphcation,  as  far  as  propriety  shall  permit,  your  Committee 
will,  no  doubt,  render  essential  service. 

That  there  may  be  no  mistake  as  to  temporal  views,  I  am 
solicitous,  dear  Sir,  to  repeat  the  declaration  made  to  Professor 
Lawson,  that  whoever  goto  preach  the  gospel  in  America  must 
be  governed  by  a  sense  of  duty,  and  a  supreme  regard  to  the 
Redeemer's  glory,  leaving  implicitly  to  his  gracious  providence 
their  earthly  destination ;  so  that  no  reproach  may  be  incurred 
either  by  myself  or  the  Synod  to  which  I  belong,  as  having 
used,  for  the  accomplishment  of  our  wishes,  any  means  incon- 
sistent with  the  openness  and  candour  of  Christians. 
With  unfeigned  respect,  yours,  &c,, 

J.  M.  MASON. 
Edinburgh,  JSTov.  10,  1801. 

The  Committee  after  deliberating  on  the  subject,  were  unani- 
mously of  opinion,  that  for  an  object  of  such  magnitude, 
"  they  ought  to  cooperate  with  Mr.  Mason  by  all  the  means  in 
their  power." 

Some  further  particulars  in  this  connexion,  together  with 
other  matters  of  interest,  may  be  found  in  the  following 
letter: — 

TO  MRS.  MASON. 

Glasgow,  Nov.  28,  1801. 

Your  own  heart,  my  beloved  Nancy,  will  best  interpret  the 
emotions  of  mine  on  the  arrival  of  your  most  welcome  letters. 
Blessed  be  the  Lord  our  Grod  for  his  watchfulness  over  me  and 
mine.  He  has  always  enabled  me  to  commit  my  family  im- 
plicitly and  unreservedly  to  his  care,  and  I  have  never  found 
cause  to  repent  my  confidence.  He  will  preserve  you  still. 
Among  the  millions  of  thoughts  which  the  images  of  all 
I  hold  most  dear  in  this  world,  call  up  every  hour  to  my  mind, 
I  am  not  conscious  of  any  anxiety.  The  tranquility  o^  trust  in 
my  Heavenly  Father  has  hitherto,  in  the  midst  of  all  my  pro- 
vocations, been  my  privilege.  It  shall  be  so,  and  be  yours 
also,  I  hope  to  the  end. 

Never  had  a  stranger  better  reason  to  eulogise  Scottish  bos- 


THE   PULPIT   OF   EBENZER    ERSKINE.  95 

pitality  than  myself.  From  ministers  and  private  Christians  of 
various  denominations ;  the  Establishment,  the  Secession,  the 
Tabernacle,  I  have  been  honoured  with  the  warmest  expres- 
sions of  regard.  Their  numerous  attentions  have,  in  fact,  often 
subjected  me  to  inconvenience.  Since  my  arrival  I  have  in  a 
great  measure,  led  the  life  of  a  pilgrim.  I  have  visited  Selkirk, 
the  seat  of  the  Divinity  Hall,  belonging  to  the  Burgher  Seceders. 
My  next  route  was  to  Stirling,  the  venerable  place  of  Ebenezer 
Erskine's  ministry.  There  I  preached  in  the  very  pulpit  from 
which  his  gracious  lips  used  to  proclaim  the  gospel  "  in  its 
dignity  and  glory."  I  cannot  describe  the  emotions  which, 
worked  in  my  breast  when  I  considered  the  spot,  the  building, 
the  people,  the  place  before  the  pulpit  where  his  revered  ashes 
are  interred.  Every  thing  affected  me.  There  are  yet,  in  the 
pulpit  on  one  side,  a  little  shelf  on  which  he  laid  his  snuff-box, 
on  the  other,  another  shelf  which  held  his  pocket-bible,  and 
just  under  it,  a  moveable  arm,  on  which  he  reclined  his  aged 
head.  The  congregation  present  were  about  8,000.  Yesterday 
eight  days  I  returned  from  Stirling,  and  on  Tuesday  last  came 
again  to  this  place  to  visit  and  enlarge  my  circle  of  acquaint- 
ance, previously  to  a  third  visit,  which  is  to  open  a  campaign 
for  the  needful. 

There  is  every  appearance  that  neither  myself  nor  our 
churches  will  have  reason  to  regret  my  mission  to  Great 
Britain,  The  general  aspect  of  things,  the  particular  season, 
and  other  circumstances,  conspire,  I  think,  to  prove  the  mea- 
sure a  wise  and  happy  one.  I  have  seen  a  thousand  confirma- 
tions of  the  opinions  which  I  entertained  and  expressed  at 
home,  that  nothing  could  have  been  done  by  letters.  The 
Burghers  on  whom  my  expectations  principally  rest,  enter  with 
spirit  into  our  views,  and  are  willing,  which  was  more  perhaps 
than  could  have  been  expected,  to  give  us  the  hest  of  their 
young  men.  It  is  too  soon  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  extent 
of  my  success ;  but  a  comfortable  beginning  encourages  me  to 
be  sanguine. 

Nothing  has  more  amused  me  than  the  vexation  which  my 
friends  among  the  ministers  of  the  Establishment  express 
under  the  restraint  of  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly.  This 
act,  levelled  perhaps  at  the  new  Independents,   who  are  also 


96  A  EESTRICTIVE   RULE. 

called  Tabernacle  men,  prohibits  them  from  employing  in  their 
pulpits  any  minister  who  cannot  accept  a  presentation,  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  They  are  very  solicitous  that  I  should 
preach  for  them,  but  their  hands  are  tied  up.  "  That  wicked 
act,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Balfour.  "  That  stupid  act,"  cried  Dr. 
Kemp.  "  That  nonsensical  act,"  added  Mr.  Jones.  "  What  a 
pity !"  "  How  foolish  !"  "  How  unkind  !"  said  good  Mr.  Bonar, 
clasping  his  hands  together,  and  lifting  his  angel  face  toward 
heaven,  "  I  am  a  man  under  authority,"  uttered  Mr.  Love, 
with  the  profoundest  gravity.  By  the  way,  their  restriction  is 
a  most  convenient  one  for  me.  I  have  ample  employment  as 
it  is.  Not  a  Sabbath  has  passed  without  my  preaching  since  I 
landed,  except  the  first. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  these  agreeable  things  I  sigh  for  my 
home  and  my  people.     Long  and  heavy-footed  are  the  months 
which  are  to  bring  back  the  joyous  hour  of  my  return.     When 
the  Lord  vouchsafes  that  happiness,  I  hope  he  will  enable  us  to 
improve  it  with  more  than  wonted  tenderness  and  gratitude. 
All  his  dispensations  are  wise  and  good.     He  teaches  us,  by 
temporary  separation,  to  learn  our  entire  dependence,  and  to 
appreciate  the  continuance  of  those  mercies  which  he  is  under 
no  obligation  to  confer.     He  warns  to  prepare  for  that  hour 
when  the  barrier  between  us  shall  not  be  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
How  transporting  tlie  thought,  that  8,000  miles  are  no  impedi- 
ment to  meeting  and  communion  at  the  mercy-seat.     How  in- 
finitely more  transporting  the  assurance,  that  a  little,  very  little 
time  can,  at  furthest,  intervene,  between  the  endearments  of 
believing  relatives  on  earth,  and  their  eternal  fellowship  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.     To  this  let  our  souls  aspire.     That  wo 
may  not  only  be  "  mete  for  the  inheritance  of  the  Saints  in 
light,"  but  may  have  "  an  abundant  entrance  into  the  everlast- 
ing kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."     His  con- 
solations be  with  your  spirit ! 


CHAPTEE   IX. 


KESITI.TS. 


Letter  to  Mr.  Bethune— To  Mrs.  Mason— To  Mr.  James  Robson— Appears  before 
the  Burgher  Synod  at  Ediaburgh— Its  effect— Churcli  Communion  restored. 

Towards  the  close  of  1801  we  left  Mr.  M.  at  Edinburgh. 
While  there,  he  was  taken  sick  and  confined  several  weeks. 
The  rest  of  his  time  was  diligently  occupied  in  efforts  to  secure 
in  various  ways,  and  at  different  places,  the  objects  for  which 
he  was  sent.  The  beginning  of  the  next  year  finds  him  still  in 
Scotland.  His  movements  and  feelings  at  this  period  may  be 
somewhat  traced  in  various  letters  to  his  friends. 

TO  ME.  DIVIE  BETHUXE. 

Edinbukgh,  Feb.  2nd,  1802. 

My  Dear  Friend:  I  have  just  seen  a  letter  from  Mrs.  G, 
to  Mrs.  Walker.  She  is  up,  riding  on  her  high  places  ;  but  it 
is  all  from  her  expectation  that  glorious  successes  are  about  to 
attend  the  Grospel.  She  reckons  much  on  the  commotions  in 
Kentucky.  They  are  very  wonderful,  but  very,  very  suspicious. 
I  have  read  an  account  transmitted  by  Mr.  Steele,  in  Kentucky, 
to  Mr.  Young,  who  supplied  us  at  New  York.  He  was  an 
eye-witness.  But  the  horrible  confusion  and  frenzy,  mingled 
with  gross  ignorance,  and  sometimes  impiety  of  expression, 
which  distinguish  the  throng,  should  make  us  very  cautious 
how  we  say,  this  is  the  finger  of  God.  But,  my  friend,  these 
things  place  in  an  increasing  light  the  importance  of  my  mission 
to  Great  Britain,  and  of  a  proper  establishment  for  ministerial 
education.  America  is  in  unspeakable  danger  of  being  overrun 
by  declaimers,  whose  zeal  without  knowledge  will,  in  the  issue, 
do  more  mischief  to  the  church  of  Christ  than  the  enmity  of 
open  foes. 

7 


98  A  VISIT  TO   IRELAND  DOUBTFUL. 

I  enclose  one  of  the  papers  which  are  circulating  among 
friends  here.  You  need  no  directions  what  use  to  make  of  it. 
But  we  must  strive  to  obtain  so  much  pecuniary  aid,  as  shall 
give  a  spring  to  the  exertions  of  our  people  at  home. 

On  Saturday,  the  6th,  I  set  out,  God  willing,  for  Glasgow, 
and  propose  to  remain  in  the  west  about  four  weeks.  I  design 
to  return  the  first  week  in  March,  at  the  furthest. 

TO  MRS.  MASON. 

Greexock,  March  2nd,  1802. 

Your  very  welcome  letter,  my  love,  dated  December  22nd, 
reached  me  toward  the  end  of  January,  and  a  few  days  after 
your  letter  of  the  27th  October.  By  the  Fanny  I  heard  of  you 
and  our  dear  family,  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Loudon,  the  9th  of 
January.  My  heart  is  filled  with  tenderness — I  hope  with 
gratitude  also — when  I  think  of  the  mercies  Avhich  our  heavenly 
Father  has  heaped  upon  me  and  mine.  How  wonderful  is  His 
loving-kindness.  He  still  observes  the  same  method  of  subduing 
my  obduracy,  and  putting  my  sins  to  shame  which  I  have  often 
mentioned  to  you — overwhelming  me  with  His  goodness.  I 
desire  to  bless  Him  for  His  graciousness  to  you,  in  giving  you 
so  much  of  His  support  and  consolations ;  a  precious  proof  that 
we  shall  never  make  a  sacrifice  for  His  name  which  He  will  not 
amply  compensate.  His  care  of  you,  and  of  the  congregation, 
joined  to  the  favour  which  He  has  granted  me  to  find  in  the 
eyes  of  His  people  here,  more  and  more  satisfy  my  conscience 
that  my  mission  is  from  Him,  and  that  He  will  prosper  it,  and 
render  it  the  means  of  good  to  His  church  in  the  United  States. 

The  impossibility  of  determining,  for  some  time,  what  supplies 
I  can  reckon  upon,  in  Scotland,  makes  it  problematic  whether  I 
shall  be  able  to  visit  Ireland  or  not.  It  would  be  extremely 
unwise  to  go  to  another  country  without  a  specific  object.  I 
cannot  even  surmise  how  many  preachers  we  shall  want  from 
Ireland,  before  I  know  how  many  are  to  be  obtained  in  Scotland ; 
and  my  crossing  over  to  the  former,  while  my  progress  is  un- 
certain in  the  latter,  would  create  so  much  doubt  as  to  the 
proportion  to  be  furnished  by  each,  as  perhnps  to  frustrate,  in 
a  great  measure,  my  reasonable  expectations  from  both.  I  am 
afraid  that  by  the  time  I  wind  up  my  business  in  this  country. 


NEGOTIATIONS   AT  AMIENS.  99 

there  will  be  no  leisure  for  doing  much  in  another.      This, 
however,  by  the  way.  ...  It  may  turn  out  otherwise. 

I  had  hoped  to  return  with  a  Spring  ship  ;  this  sweet  hope, 
however,  cannot  be  realized.  Matters  are  far  from  being  ripe 
enough  to  permit  my  leaving  Britain  at  present  without  essen- 
tial injury  to  my  public  business.  However  joyfully  I  would 
see  unfurled  the  sails  of  the  vessel  in  which  I  am  to  embark  for 
home^  I  cannot  reconcile  with  a  sense  of  duty  the  relinquishment 
of  the  trust  reposed  in  me,  before  all  the  means  have  been  used, 
and  time  employed,  which  offer  a  reasonable  prospect  of  success. 
You  must  not,  therefore,  look  for  me  sooner  than  the  beginning 
of  September.  Nothing  which  my  exertions  can  prevent  shall 
keep  me  beyond  that  time  from  the  bosom  of  my  dear  family. 

The  negotiations  at  Amiens  for  a  definite  treaty  of  peace, 
drag  on  heavily.  A  thousand  speculations  are  afloat.  Some 
even  assert  that  the  negotiations  will,  after  all,  be  broken  off. 
As  I  am  not  in  the  secrets  of  the  Cabinet  I  can  say  nothing 
about  the  matter.  Yet  it  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  One  can 
hardly  avoid  suspecting  that  everything  is  not  exactly  right. 
In  the  mean  time  it  is  certain  that  a  most  wonderful  change  has 
passed  upon  the  opinions  of  multitudes  concerning  the  pre- 
liminaries. Anxiety  for  peace  and  the  surprise  of  its  arrival, 
produced  a  burst  of  exultation  and  enthusiasm  which  precluded 
inquiry,  and  carried  completely  away  the  mass  of  the  nation. 
Since  the  tumult  has  subsided,  and  men  have  grown  cool,  their 
views  have  altered.  At  least,  as  far  as  my  observation  reaches, 
this  is  the  fact  even  with  those  who  at  first  were  most  ardent  in 
their  approbation.  What  the  event  will  be,  God  only  knows  ; 
but  there  appears  little  reason  to  hope  that  the  peace  will  be 
permanent.  I  wish  and  pray  that  the  sanguine  calculations  of 
our  President  on  that  subject  may  not  prove  illusory. 

My  love  to  the  dear  children.  Tell  themthat  I  think  of  them 
and  pray  for  them  every  day.  They  must  not  neglect  their 
catechism  and  texts  as  they  have  been  accustomed,  Euphemia 
must  be  attentive  to  her  needle,  as  I  shall  bring  some  work  for 
her.  Mamma  Mason  and  Mother  Lefferts  will  accept  my  affec- 
tionate remembrance.  Join  with  them  our  good  friends  at  llack- 
insack.  The  list  at  New  York  is  too  numerous  to  particular- 
ize.   Distance  does  not  diminish  the  attachment  which  I  fondly 


100  POETENTOUS  NAVAL   PREPARATIONS. 

cherished  when  among  them.  Tell  them  so  when  they  ask  about 
me.-  Do  not  forget  to  make  my  cordial  congratulations  to  Dr. 
I.  K.  B.  Rodgers  and  his  spouse.  Long  may  they  live  in  peace, 
blessing  and  blessed. 

I  am  much  gratified  with  the  attention  of  the  servants.  Give 
them  my  thanks  for  it.  I  do  not  forget  them,  and  am  per- 
suaded that  they  will  persevere  in  their  duties  and  affections. 
Tell  Angus  to  be  industrious  at  his  books.  The  Lord  bless 
you.  Unceasingly,  your  affectionate 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

TO  MRS.  MASON. 

Edinburgh,  March  9th,  1802. 

I  WROTE  to  you,  my  dear  Nancy,  on  the  2d,  from  Greenock, 
by  the  William  and  Margaret.  Lest  that  letter  miscarry,  I  send 
a  few  lines  by  another  vessel.  The  cold  which  1  formerly  men- 
tioned as  having  seized  me,  is  quite  removed. 

Difficulties  which  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  overcome,  pro- 
hibit my  departure  for  America,  till  the  next  voyage  of  the 
vessels  which  are  now  about  sailing.  This  will  be  the  end  of 
July  or  the  beginning  of  August.  The  issue  of  my  application 
for  preachers  cannot  be  known  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Burgher  Synod,  which  will  be  held  in  this  city  the  last  week 
of  April. 

I  mentioned  that  great  mystery  hung  over  the  negotiations 
at  Amiens  about  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace.  It  is  foolish  for 
those  who  have  no  access  to  the  sources  of  authentic  informa- 
tion to  speak  peremptoril}-.  But  if  I  may  judge  from  present 
appearances,  the  conclusion  of  a  peace  is  very  dubious.  It  is 
certain  that  orders  have  been  issued  for  not  paying  off  the  ships 
of  war,  for  putting  into  commission  those  that  were  paid  oflP, 
and  manning  and  victualling  them  for  six  months.  Ship  car- 
penters and  other  nautical  mechanics  are  busy  in  repairs,  and  a 
hot  press  for  seamen  is  going  on  at  the  Thames.  Such  at  least 
is  the  uniform,  uncontradicted  news  from  London.  I  had  heard 
it  asserted  that  the  negotiations  at  Amiens  are  actually  broken 
off,  and  that  war  is  again  at  the  door ;  whether  this  is  true  I  do 
not  pretend  to  say,  but  the  prospect  is  black.  There  are  also 
some  indications  of  a  new  combination  on  the  Continent.     The 


Bonaparte's  power.  101 

enormous  accession  of  power  to  Bonaparte  in  Italy  has  alarmed 
his  neighbours,  and,  it  is  said,  given  rise  to  some  manoeuvres 
towards  a  league  between  Prussia  and  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 
This  is  the  report.  Of  its  truth  I  know  nothing,  but  it  is  not 
improbable.  God  only,  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
can  tell  what  is  to  follow.  You  know  that  it  has  been  long  my 
expectation  that  the  world  is  not  to  enjoy  much  solid  peace  till 
the  Prince  of  Peace  shall  come  to  reign  gloriously.  May  my 
apprehensions  turn  out  to  be  false  and  groundless !  Yet  they 
are,  that  speedily,  if  not  immediately,  the  sword  is  again  to  be 
unsheathed,  and  rivers  of  human  blood  are  again  to  flow.  Oh 
for  that  blessed  period  when  the  Son  of  God  shall  command 
wars  to  cease  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  !  Nothing  but  his  power 
in  the  prevalence  of  his  gospel  can  exterminate  them. 

Your  ever  affectionate, 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

TO  MRS.  MASON. 

Edinburgh,  March  11,  1802. 

Although  I  wrote  on  the  2d  and  the  9th  insts.,  yet,  as  I  am 
making  up  another  package  for  New  York,  I  cannot  deny  my- 
self the  pleasure  of  dropping  another  line  to  my  beloved  Nancy. 
I  have,  indeed,  little  more  to  add  to  my  former  communications, 
than  the  satisfaction  of  holding  another  silent  converse  with 
her,  after  the  interval  of  two  days.  Often,  very  often,  do  the 
dear  images  of  those  whom  I  have  left  at  New  York,  pass  in 
reiterated  succession  before  my  mind.  Reverie  transports  me 
to  No.  9  Pine  street,  and  I  sport  with  my  charming  boys  and 
Sfirls,  while  their  dear  mother  looks  on,  when  some  untoward 
incident  dissipates  the  illusion,  and  by  sober  reality  proves  that 
I  am  three  thousand  miles  from  them.  Well !  however  foolish 
the  vagaries  of  fancy,  life  would  be  insipid  without  its  faculty 
of  wandering.  Gone  were  some  of  my  most  delicious  mo- 
ments, if  there  were  no  speedier  passage  over  the  Atlantic  than 
the  sluggish  vehicles  of  commerce.  Oh  how  tardily  move 
those  leaden -footed  hours  which  are  to  bring  on  the  moment  of 
my  departure  for  home.  Home !  Every  nerve  thrills  at  the  joy. 
ous  sound.  All  the  kindnesses  and  caresses  of  friends  which,  here 
and  there,  are  not  a  few,  only  make  me  more  keenly  sensible 


102  KELIANCE   ON   PROVIDENCE. 

of  the  delights  of  my  fireside.  If  aught  of  strange  or  foreign 
could  compensate  the  want  of  this,  I  had  forgotten  ere  now  the 
bliss  of  Pine  street.  My  heart  pants  for  the  hour  of  my  return. 
Yet  I  am  not  dejected  nor  anxious.  I  know  that  he  to  whom 
I  committed  you  and  your  children  will  not  disappoint  my 
confidence.  Cheering,  divinely  cheering,  is  the  Christian's 
privilege:  the  humble  but  elevated  hope,  that  he  who  sits 
upon  the  heavens,  is  my  God,  my  brother;  that  he  employs  the 
celestials  from  his  throne  to  watch  over  the  family  which  he 
has  given  me,  and  which  I  have  confided  to  his  care.  But 
when  we  recollect  that  all  the  prerogatives  of  godliness  in  this 
life  are  nothing  to  its  advantages  in  the  life  to  come,  that  there 
the  days  of  our  mourning  shall  be  ended  and  the  Lord  shall  be 
our  everlasting  light,  and  our  God  our  glory  ;  what,  0,  what, 
shall  we  say  !  Is  this  the  manner  of  man,  0,  Lord  God?  In 
the  sweet  consolations  of  his  covenant  may  it  be  our  happiness 
to  walk  through  the  world,  and  to  step  out  of  it.  To  his  grace 
I  commit  you.  Love  to  the  children,  and  the  grandmamas. 
Once  more  adieu.  

Mr.  Mason's  expostulations  with  Mr.  James  Eobson,  whom 
he  particularly  desired  to  come  with  him  to  America,  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  letter,  further  indicate  the  earnestness 
and  zeal  with  which  he  prosecuted  his  mission  : — 

TO  MR.  JAMES  ROBSON. 

Edinburgh,  March  20,  1802. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  Nothing  short  of  a  refusal  the  most  per- 
emptory and  persevering,  will  extinguish  my  expectation  of 
calling  you  brother  in  the  Western  world.  If  I  have  not  mis- 
understood you,  the  hindrance  to  your  compliance  does  not  lie 
in  your  own  inclinations,  but  in  the  difficulty  of  determining 
whether,  all  circumstances  considered,  especially  the  opposition 
of  your  friends  and  beloved  mother,  the  general  call  of  Divine 
Providence  is  directed  particularly  to  you.  My  dear  Sir,  ivliat 
evidence  would  satisfy  you  on  this  point  ?  A  particular  reve- 
lation is  out  of  the  question,  as  much,  I  am  persuaded,  with 
respect  to  your  own  desire,  as  it  is  in.  fact.  I  have  no  doubt 
myself.     Let  us  put  togetlier  those  providential  incidents  from 


REASONING  WITH   MR.    ROBSON.  103 

which  we  must  collect  an  intimation  of  the  divine  will,  and  see 
if  they  lead  to  no  conclusion  with  regard  to  your  personal 
duty. 

That  there  is  a  general  call,  and  a  loud  one,  for  seme  preachers 
to  go  to  America,  is  not  disputed.  But  a  general  call  is  the 
basis  of  a  particular  one.  And  if  every  individual  may  decline 
it  for  himself,  it  will  turn  out  to  be  a  nullity.  The  question 
then  is,  who  will  comply  with  it  ?  The  very  willingness  of  any 
individual,  stamps  upon  the  general  call  the  character  of  parti- 
cularity. In  both  these  views,  therefore,  the  call  of  God's 
providence  is  to  you.  But  let  me  add,  that  from  the  moment 
I  opened  mycommissiou  till  this  hour,  every  Christian  acquaint- 
ance of  yours,  whom  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing,  fixed 
upon  you  without  the  least  hesitation.  Their  attachments  to 
you  are  so  respectful  and  decided  that  nothing  but  a  conviction 
which  rebukes  prejudice  and  imposes  silence  upon  wish,  could 
have  conducted  them  to  this  opinion.  The  knowledge  also 
which  I  have  of  you,  warrants  my  confidence  that  if  you  shall 
go  to  America,  you  will  be  destined  to  no  inferior  usefulness. 
Our  churches  needjoMv  services,  my  dear  Sir,  yours  in  a  parti- 
cular manner  ;  and  you  must  not  say  us  nay.  In  fine,  to  urge 
what  I  formerly  only  hinted,  much  depends  upon  your  accept- 
ance of  our  invitation.  It  is  not  idle  compliment.  It  is  no 
vague  conjecture,  it  is  a  well  founded  assurance,  that  others  of 
high  promise  to  our  prosperity  will  probably  join  with  you  in 
embracing  or  rejecting  our  proposal.  Your  refusal  will  go 
further  towards  discouraging  and  defeating  my  efforts,  than 
that  of  any  other  young  man  in  Scotland.  Can  you  reconcile, 
m}'-  friend,  to  your  own  heart,  a  measure  which  tends  to  frus- 
trate a  plan  allowed  to  be  great  and  good,  and  supported  by 
the  call  of  holy  Providence? 

When  I  sum  up  these  things,  when  I  consider  that  the  com- 
mand of  our  master,  manifested  in  his  Providence,  to  assist  the 
American  churches,  is  unequivocal  and  strong;  that  the  agent  for 
these  churches  has,  from  no  improper  motive  surely,  fixed  upon 
you  as  a  particularly  desirable  acquisition  ;  that  his  opinion  is 
backed  by  the  voice  of  all  those  ministers  and  private  Christ- 
ians who  are  best  qualified  to  judge;  that  your  own  inclina 
tions  are  not  hostile ;  that  your  acquiescence  will  be  a  material 


104:  THE   FEELINGS   OF   FRIENDS. 

benefit,  and  your  refusal  a  material  injury  to  an  attempt,  which, 
in  its  results  may  affect  the  Church  of  Christ  to  an  extent  at  pre- 
sent incalculable  :  when  I  consider  these  things,  can  I  doubt  that 
if  there  is  one  person  to  whom  more  than  another  tlie  call  of 
Divine  Providence  renders  a  mission  to  America,  matter  of 
pointed  and  imperious  duty,  that  person  is  James  Kobson. 

To  the  force  of  this  representation  you,  my  dear  Sir,  are  not 
insensible.  But  your  friends,  your  mother,  your  affectionate 
and  revered  mother,  cannot  be  conciliated.  I  feel  your  straits, 
and  sympathize  with  you  in  your  conflict.  Forever  venerable 
be  a  mother's  wishes.  Tender,  indeed,  are  the  cords  which 
bind  her  to  the  son  of  her  vows ;  nor  let  me  touch  them  but 
with  the  most  respectful  and  delicate  hand.  Yet  as  I  am  in- 
formed that  she  is  not  a  stranger  to  religious  principle,  I  will 
venture  to  expostulate.  Is  there  any  sacrifice  too  costly  for 
him  who  sacrificed  himself,  and  was  baptized  in  the  baptism  of 
his  own  blood,  for  her?  Would  she  choose  that  a  believing 
son  should  not  be  ready  to  die  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ? 
and  shall  she  be  unwilling  to  let  him  go  for  that  name,  not  to 
death,  but  to  another  part  of  his  vineyard  ?  Did  she,  did  you, 
did  any  of  your  friends,  stipulate  with  the  great  God  our  Sa- 
viour, that  you  should  serve  him  in  the  gospel,  not  where  he,  but 
wdiere  you,  should  direct?  Shall  a  Christian  parent  and  a  Christ- 
ian son  do  less  for  promoting  the  eternal  salvation  of  men,  and 
the  eternal  glory  of  God  in  them,  than  even  Christian  parents 
and  their  most  affectionate  sons  do  every  day  for  acquiring  this 
world  ?  How  many  religious  people  permit  their  children  to 
go,  in  quest  o^  o.  fortune,  among  all  the  natural  and  moral  perils 
of  the  East  and  West  Indies?  and  will  your  mother  not  permit 
you  to  go  among  fellow  Christians  for  the  nobler  purpose  of 
assisting  them  in  displaying  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  ? 
Is  it  not  to  a  great  sacrifice  that  great  promises  are  made? 
If  your  yearning  mother  and  your  dear  friends  will  consent  to 
your  leaving  them,  may  they  not,  may  she  not,  especially,  enter 
her  claim  upon  her  Maker,  her  husband,  whose  name  is  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  to  be  better  to  her  than  ten  sons  ?  If  they  hinder  you, 
will  they  incur  no  liazard  of  reproof?  Is  it  not  an  easy  thing 
for  God  to  blast  all  their  comfort  in  a  relation  whom  they  would 
not  surrender  to  him  -for  a  distant  service?    Can  he  not  tear 


MR.    M.   APPEARS   BEFORE    THE    SYNOD,  105 

you  awaj  from  them  by  death?  Can  he  not  subject  you  to 
affliction  which  will  both  lay  you  aside  from  the  labours  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  rend  their  own  hearts  with  long  and  hopeless 
anguish?  Can  he  not  withhold  his  gracious  influence  from 
your  ministrations,  send  drought  and  famine  into  their  souls, 
and  withdraw  the  consolations  which  they  might  have  in  Am, 
because  they  would  bear  no  interruption  in  the  consolations 
which  are  to  be  enjoyed  in  man?  After  all,  in  what  does  the 
enjoyment  of  our  friends  consist  ?  Chiefly  in  our  complacency 
in  their  persons,  and  our  knowledge  of  their  welfare.  The 
pleasure  of  "face  to  face,"  make  but  a  few  spots  in  the  track  of 
life.  We  cannot  expect  to  have  them  always  near  us.  And  if 
they  be  so  far  away  as  to  preclude  that  frequency  of  personal 
intercourse,  which  is  not  embittered  by  the  pang  of  new  sepa- 
ration, the  effect  of  a  greater  distance  is  merely  imaginary. 

I  pray  you  to  excuse  my  importunity.  I  am  in  serious  earn- 
est. To  the  awards  of  heaven  I  desire  to  submit.  But  my 
impressions  must  greatly  alter,  if  I  shall  not  receive  your  final 
rejection  of  the  overture  which  I  have  made  to  you  in  the  name 
of  our  churches,  as  a  dark  and  frowning  dispensation.  Write 
as  soon  as  convenient,  for  I  am  anxious. 

J.  M.  MASON. 


Whatever  may  have  been  the  effect  of  the  measures  pursued 
hy  the  Synod's  Committee  referred  to  in  former  pages,  it  was 
not  such  as  to  supersede  the  necessity  of  bringing  the  subject 
before  the  whole  Synod  at  their  next  annual  meeting.  Accord- 
ingly when  the  Committee  presented  their  report,  together 
with  the  papers  received  by  Professor  Lawson  and  themselves, 
on  the  28th  April,  Mr.  Mason  was  introduced  to  that  venerable 
assembly,  and  was  permitted  to  address  them. 

The  result  was,  that,  in  the  language  of  their  minutes,  "  the 
Synod  heartily  approved  the  course  of  the  Committee,  and 
thanked  them  for  their  services;  and,  after  considering  the 
principles  and  order  of  the  Associate  Eeformed  Church  in 
America,  agreed  to  recognize  her  as  a  sister  church,  and 
resolved  to  comply  with  her  application  for  a  supply  of  minis- 
ters, to  the  utmost  of  their  power."     At  the  same  time  they 


106  COMMUNION   RESTORED. 

took  measures  for  placing  the  call  directly  before  the  minds  of 
about  thirty  individuals  whom  they  designated  for  the  service. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  here,  that  this  was  the  first  formal  act 
by  which  the  Secession  Church  in  America,  in  its  united  form, 
received  any  countenance  or  favour  from  the  judicatories  of 
Scotland.  That  church  fellowship,  which  had  been  judicially 
taken  away  from  the  father  in  1780,  was  in  1802  restored  to 
the  son. 

His  own  account  of  his  reception,  is  given  in  the  following 
language  taken  from  his  report : 

"  I  cannot  express  the  obligations  imposed  upon  me,  by  the 
very  liberal  and  elegant  reception  with  which,  as  your  repre- 
sentative, I  was  honoured  by  that  reverend  court.  Nothing 
can  exceed  the  frankness,  affection,  and  zeal,  with  which  they 
manifested  their  interest  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  and 
their  desire  to  promote  her  prosperity." 


CEAPTEE   X. 

im. 

VISITS      LONDON. 

His  chief  Ijurden— Accepts  an  invitation  to  preacli  in  the  Metropolis—"  Messiah' s 
Throne" — Very  popular — Last  Sabbath  in  London— Letters  to  Mrs.  M. — Let- 
ter to  Mrs.  Brown— Liberal  Contributions— Returns  to  Edinburgh— Visits 
Ireland — "First  Eipc  Fruits " — Parting  words  to  a  Friend. 

A  STILL  more  important  matter  occupied  Mr.  Mason's  mind. 
Deeply  as  he  felt  the  importance  of  an  evangelical  ministry  for 
the  best  interests  of  his  rising  country,  and  highly  as  he  valued 
the  sup|)lies  which  might  sooner  or  later  be  received  from 
abroad,  he  saw  most  clearly  that  our  main  dependence  must  be 
placed  upon  institutions  for  training  young  ministers  at  home. 
However  excellent  or  even  superior  might  be  the  means  of  edu- 
cation in  foreign  seats  of  learning,  he  saw  clearly  that  they 
could  not  be  so  well  adapted  to  our  circumstances.  A  linger- 
ing attachment  to  their  native  soil  could  not  be  easily  overcome, 
even  in  such  as  might  be  persuaded  to  emigrate  ;  the  ideas,  the 
habits,  the  peculiarities,  the  feelings  and  predilections,  which 
insensibly  grow  up  with  men  in  the  land  of  their  nativity,  are 
not  easily  dismissed ;  the  many  additional  expenditures  which 
must  necessarily  attend  the  translation  of  labourers  to  a  distant 
field;  the  prejudices  to  be  encountered,  the  customs  to  be 
accommodated,  the  institutions  to  be  studied,  the  many  things 
to  be  learned,  and  the  man}^  to  be  unlearned  by  foreigners  in 
every  new  sphere ;  were  enough  to  convince  him  that  recourse 
must  be  had  to  domestic  training  by  the  American  churches, 
before  they  could  be  either  adequately  or  permanently  supplied. 
There  was  probably  no  subject  on  which,  during  the  whole  of 
his  remarkable  ministry,  he  so  earnestly  set  his  heart,  as  upon 
this.     His  strongest  desire,  not  to  call  it  ambition,  was  to  lay 


108  IMPRESSIONS   IN   LONDON. 

the  foundation  of  a  seminary  wliich  might  prove  a  perennial 
fountain  of  blessings  to  the  churches  of  America,  especially 
those  of  his  own  denomination.  This  being  one  of  the  objects 
embraced  in  his  commission,  he  lost  no  opportunity  of  shaping 
his  course  for  its  accomplishment.  Among  the  things  most 
needed  for  it  were  funds  and  books.  As  the  churches  of  his 
connexion  were  comparatively  poor,  he  felt  both  warranted 
and  impelled  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  his  Synod,  to 
solicit  contributions  elsewhere.  Accordingly,  during  the  inter- 
vals of  transactions  already  referred  to,  and  as  far  as  prudence 
and  propriety  permitted,  he  urged  forward  this  business.  It 
was  among  the  weightiest  considerations  which  induced  him  to 
accept  an  invitation  for  jDreaching  their  annual  sermon  before 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  at  the  metropolis  in  the  month 
of  May. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  preached  his  celebrated  ser- 
mon entitled,  '  Messiah's  Throne' — a  discourse  which  at  once 
made  him  almost  an  idol  in  London,  and  did  much  to  raise  the 
reputation  of  American  eloquence  in  England.  It  served  to 
bring  upon  him  very  importunate  applications  from  every 
quarter.  Though  under  the  necessity  of  declining  most  of  them, 
he  preached  very  often,  and  always  to  thronged  assemblies. 

Of  those  who  heard  him,  not  a  few  retained  very  vivid  im- 
pressions of  his  discourses  as  long  as  they  lived.  One  of  them 
speaks  of  his  having  "enraptured  his  cotemporaries  of  the 
great  capital."  Another,  who  was  connected  with  the  Baptist 
Church,  remarked  in  1853,  a  distance  of  51  years,  that  "as 
long  as  life  lasts,  the  recollection  of  him  and  his  services  will  be 
among  my  most  pleasing  remembrances."  A  third,  who  was 
not  personally  acquainted  with  him,  to  inquiries  on  the  subject 
by  a  friend,  replies,  February  21,  1852:  "You  wish  me  to  do 
what  I  can  by  the  way  of  reminiscence  of  that  great  man.  Dr. 
Mason.  Be  assured,  his  memory  needs  it  not ;  but  you  do,  and 
gladly  will  I  aid  you  as  far  as  I  can.  I  have,  you  know,  skele- 
tons of  some  of  his  sermons,  in  manuscript,  preached  here  in 
1802.  They  are,  though  skeletons,  truly  marvellous,  and  I 
have  lent  them  to  experienced  ministers^  as  models,  until  I  have 
more  than  once  had  great  difficulty  in  recovering  the  book. 
....     My  impressions  of  the  great  man,  are  more  reverential 


EEMINISCENCES.  109 

than  I  can  express.  Hall  was  sublime,  but  Mason  majestic. 
The  grandeur  of  his  conceptions  was  sustained  by  the  dignity  of 
his  utterance.  Every  feature  of  his  countenance  and  its  very 
pallor,  aided  the  impression,  while — to  use  the  language  of  an 
eloquent  writer — whenever  he  stood  up,  '  you  felt  that  you  had 
a  great  preacher  before  you.  His  voice  became  a  very  trumpet 
of  grandeur  and  exultation,  and  you  might  have  fancied  yourself 
in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  sons  of  Aaron,  calling  out  to  the 
host  of  the  people  from  some  platform  occupied  by  the  Pro- 
phets.' Is  this  the  language  of  extravagance  ?  Not  in  your 
ear,  I  am  well  persuaded." 

"  It  was  on  the  evening  of  July  4th,"  writes  another,  "  that 
my  father  for  the  first  time  heard  Mr.  Mason,  at  Eagle  street, 
from  the  words,  '  How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great 
salvation  ?'  and  he  says  never  can  he  forget  the  impression 
which  that  sermon  made  upon  him.  From  that  time,  with  only 
one  exception,  he  heard  all  the  sermons  he  preached  in  London. 
On  the  11th  July,  he  preached  at  Miles  lane,  from  1  Tim.  i.  1, 
'The  Lord  Jesus  our  hope.'  On  the  25th  July,  at  Artillery 
lane,  from  1  John,  v.  12,  '  He  that  hath  the  Son,  hath  life.' 
Same  day  evening,  at  Camden  Chapel,  Heb.  ii.  10.  The  last 
Sabbath  he  was  in  London,  August  1,  1802,  he  preached  in  the 
morning  at  Orange  street,  from  Hebrews  x.  19-22  ;  and  in  the 
evening,  at  Whites  row,  Spitalfields,  from  2  Pet.  i,  11,  and 
those  who  were  then  privileged  to  hear  him,  can  never  forget 
their  feelings.  Before  the  close  of  the  sermon,  the  shades  of 
evening  had  drawn  on,  and  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  can 
only  be  imagined  by  those  who  knew  Mr.  Mason,  as  by  his 
deep-toned  and  earnest  voice,  amid  the  surrounding  gloom, 
he  concluded  in  these  words:  'Here  time  and  place  separate 
personal  intercourse,  but  break  not  attachments.  It  is  but  a 
little  while  that  we  can  see  each  other  in  this  world.  Thanks 
be  to  God,  we  shall  meet  3'onder.  Thcre^  there  shall  be  no 
change.  Tlicre^  there  shall  be  no  interruption.  There  we  shall 
not  lament  the  anguish  of  forming  acquaintance  and  Christian 
connexions  only  to  be  broken.  Our  hopes,  our  spirits,  our 
prospects  are  on  high!  and,  blessed  be  God,  the  kingdom  is 
there  also.     And  there,  my  brethren,  may  you  who  are  hearers, 


110  REPUTATION  FOR  ELOQUENCE. 

and  may  lie  who  now,  in  all  probability  for  the  last  time  in  this 
world,  addresses  you,  meet,  when  the  mystery  of  God  shall  be 
finished,  when  the  trump  of  God  shall  sound,  and  wdien  the 
angel  of  God  shall  swear  by  Ilim  who  liveth  forever  and  ever 
that  time  shall  be  no  longer.'     On  the  next  day  he  left  London." 

Of  some  of  his  discourses,  Samuel  Gale,  Esq.,  a  young 
lawyer,  took  outlines,  which  he  was  afterwards  induced  to  fill 
up  as  best  he  could.  To  these  notes  he  often  recurred,  and  at 
the  distance  of  fifty  years  after  their  delivery,  was  still  in  the 
habit  of  reading  them  again  and  again,  with  ever  fresh  delight. 

In  a  letter  of  June  16,  1805,  Mr.  Joseph  Hardcastle,  of  Lon- 
don, writes:  "We  frequently  think  it  possible  that  the  con- 
cussions of  Europe  may  lead  to  a  crisis,  in  which  it  may  be 
expedient  for  those  who  have  large  families  to  seek  a  quiet 
asylum.  In  this  case,  it  is  already  decided,  that  the  advantage 
of  your  friendship  and  your  ministry  will  determine  us  to  settle 
not  far  from  New  York. 

The  late  Dr.  John  B.  Beck,  of  New  York,  on  his  return  from 
a  foreign  tour,  in  1815,  said  that  no  American  name  attracted 
so  much  inquiry  and  admiration  in  England  as  that  of  Dr. 
Mason.  Probably  this  was  in  part  owing  to  the  circumstance 
that  he  accompanied  his  uncle.  Dr.  Eomeyn,  who  mingled  more 
particularly  with  religious  circles  of  society. 

These  statements  accord  with  a  note  found  in  the  Bibliotheca 
Sacra  for  May,  1819 :  "  We  regret  that  there  is  no  memoir  of  a 
pulpit  orator  so  distinguished  as  Dr.  ^fason.  The  impression 
which  his  eloquence  made  in  England  is  still  vivid  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  listened  to  him.  The  late  eminent  and  excellent 
R.  W.  Ilamilton,  D.D.,  of  Leeds,  mentioned  to  the  writer  a 
number  of  incidents  illustrating  the  power  of  his  oratory.  An- 
other individual  said,  that  on  entering  the  church  when  Dr.  M. 
was  delivering  his  'Messiah's  Throne,'  he  was  instantly  so 
impressed,  that  he  passed  some  distance  and  had  taken  his  seat 
without  being  aware  that  his  hat  was  still  on  his  head,  till  it 
was  indicated  b}^  those  near." 

Some  of  these  things  may  add  to  the  interest  of  his  letters 
written  home,  in  all  the  most  unreserved  frankness  of  domestic 
confidence.     AVe  insert  a  few  of  them  somewhat  abridged  : — 


ENGLISH  CHRISTIANITY.  Ill 

TO   MRS.   MASON. 

London,  June  11th,  1802. 

I  AM  really  grieved,  my  love,  that  no  earlier  opportunity  of 
writing  to  you  has  occurred  since  the  sailing  of  the  Amster- 
dam packet.  Three  letters  I  had  dispatched  some  weeks  be- 
fore, which,  by  a  mistake  of  a  friend  in  Glasgow,  were  all  put 
on  board  the  William  and  Margaret.  My  only  recent  intelli- 
gence is  through  the  medium  of  Mr.  Bethune,  whose  letters 
come  down  to  the  13th  of  April.  You  will  see,  by  the  date  of 
my  letter,  that  I  have  executed  the  intention  I  hinted  in  my 
last,  of  visiting  London.  I  have  been  here  since  the  9th  ult., 
and  do  assure  you  am  not  suffered  to  rust  for  want  of  employ- 
ment. On  the  evening  of  the  13th  ult.,  I  preached  for  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  in  Tottenham  Court  Chapel,  to  an 
audience  of  nearly  5,000  people.  The  scene  altogether  was 
most  impressive.  Above  300  ministers  lined  the  front  of  the 
galleries,  and  the  whole  congregation  seemed  animated  with 
one  soul.  Although  I  cannot  approve  the  missionary  proceed- 
ure  without  exception,  nor  am  altogether  free  from  fears  of 
danger  to  their  cause  from  circumstances  among  themselves^  yet 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  God  has  been,  and  much  to 
hope  that  he  will  be,  glorified  by  them.  Letters  have  just  been 
received  from  Canton  announcing  the  safe  arrival  and  kind  re- 
ception of  the  last  body  of  missionaries  who  were  sent  to 
Otaheite.  I  have  not  heard  a  syllable  of  the  New  York  Mission- 
ary Society  since  I  left  home.  The  Directors  of  the  Society 
here  have  taken  up  the  subject  of  a  mission  to  the  Mosquito 
shore,  and  will  probably,  as  soon  as  things  will  admit,  act  with 
us  for  carrying  it  into  effect. 

English  Christianity  is  somewhat  unique.  I  wish  I  had  time 
to  sit  down  and  analyze  it.  I  see  in  it  much  to  admire  and  to 
love;  but  can  observe  traits  which  justify  an  apprehension 
that  some  of  its  tendencies,  and  those  of  strong  operation,  are 
not  altogether  auspicious.  It  has  been  my  happiness  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  several  of  the  best  men,  both  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  and  out  of  it.  A  few  days  ago,  I  took  my  break- 
fast with  good  Mk.  Newton.  He  has  one  foot  not  more  cer- 
tainly in  the  grave,  than  he  has  the  other  on   the  threshold  of 


112  OPINION   OF  THE   METEOPOLIS. 

heaven.  This  evening  I  go  with  Mr.  Bethune  to  visit  your 
favourite  Mr.  Serle.  I  have  received  great  kindness  from  Mr. 
Wilberforce,  Mr.  H.  Thornton,  and  others,  on  whose  friendship 
I  am  entitled  to  reckon  for  support  in  pursuing  one  of  the  ends 
of  my  visit  to  Great  Britain. 

The  Burgher  Synod  met  in  the  end  of  April,  entered  unani- 
mously and  with  the  warmest  cordiality  into  the  views  of  our 
Synod,  and  backed  my  application  with  their  judicial  sanction. 
They  formally  recommended  a  compliance  with  the  call  of  our 
churches  to  a  number  of  their  ministers,  probationers,  and 
students,  by  name.  Who  are  to  go  will  be  known  the  end  of 
this  month.  I  then  purpose  to  visit  Ireland  for  a  short  time, 
and  will  hardly  have  leisure  lo  see  my  friends  in  Scotland  be- 
fore the  warning  will  be  given  to  repair  to  the  ship,  that 
longed-for  ship,  which  is  to  convey  me  home.  0  my  Nancy,  I 
am  sick,  sick,  sick  of  this  vagabond  life !  The  sweet  order 
and  tranquility  of  my  own  house,  and  the  steady  endearments 
of  my  flock,  will  be  more  precious  to  me  than  ever.  The  end 
of  July,  or  the  beginning  of  August,  will  part  me,  I  trust, 
from  this  island ;  but  I  should  be  worse  than  ungrateful  if  an}^ 
distance  of  time  or  place  were  to  obliterate  the  affectionate  re- 
membrance of  the  kindness  which  has  encompassed  me  in 
every  place  I  have  visited. 

Ever,  ever  your  affectionate, 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

TO  MRS.  MASON. 

London,  July  1st,  1802. 

Two  weeks  ago  I  wrote  by  the  Maryland^  informing  my  be- 
loved Nancy  of  some  of  my  peregrinations  which  conducted 
me  at  last  to  the  metropolis.  An  adequate  idea  of  this  most 
enormous  city  can  hardly  be  formed  by  one  whose  patience  and 
whose  eye  have  not  been  wearied  in  tracing  its  devious  and  ex- 
tended streets.  Of  all  the  cities  I  know,  it  is  perhaps  the  last 
in  which  I  would  choose  to  reside,  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
huge  expense  of  lime  which  is  necessarily  created  by  travers- 
ing it. 

I  have  been  kept  so  constantl}^  employed  that  I  have  scarcely 
heard  a  sermon  since  I  came  to  London.     A  stranger  is  pes- 


APPLICATIONS   FOR   PREACHING.  113 

tered  with  incessant  applications  to  preach.  Three  times  on 
the  Lord's  day  have  barely  excused  me.  On  week  days  I  have 
been  peremptory  in  declining.  How  welcome,  how  sweet,  will 
be  the  peace  of  my  dear  family,  and  the  sober,  attentive  order 
of  my  congregation  !  Long  ago  was  I  a  Presbyterian  from 
principle;  and  everything  that  I  have  seen  since  my  arrival  in 
Britain  has  served  to  strengthen  my  convictions.  Never  liave 
I  been  so  awfully  impressed  with  the  absolute  necessity  of  the 
old-fashioned  way  of  training  up  ministers  in  the  Churches  of 
Scotland  and  Holland,  and  of  the  importance  of  erecting,  with- 
out delay,  and  supporting  with  vigour,  seminaries  of  Theologi- 
cal instruction  in  America,  as  I  am  at  this  moment.  It  must 
be  done  or  we  are  ruined. 

This  goes  with  our  dear  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bethune.  It 
is  a  mutual  grief  that  we  cannot  sail  together.  My  heart  is 
with  them,  and  so  would  be  my  person,  if  it  were  at  all  practi- 
cable. But  it  were  foolish  to  hurry  away  at  the  expense  of 
leaving  business  unfinished.  My  design  and  expectation  are  to 
follow  in  about  five  weeks.  The  dear  children  are  constantly 
near  my  heart.  0,  that  the  gracious  Providence  which  has 
hitherto  watched  over  them,  may  keep  them  still !  I  commit 
them,  with  their  much  loved  mother,  to  the  guardian  care  of 
God  my  Saviour.  May  the  light  of  his  countenance  continue 
to  cheer  you!  Wherever  we  are,  he  is  ;  and  he  will  not  leave 
us.  He  will  restore  me  to  the  embraces  of  my  precious  family 
and  affectionate  friends.  The  month  of  September,  I  trust, 
will  be  the  happy  time.         

The  following,  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Brown,  of  Frankfort,  Ken- 
tucky, touching  several  topics  of  both  public  and  private  con- 
cern, is  too  characteristic  to  be  omitted.  It  has  perhaps  lost 
none  of  its  interest  by  the  years  which  have  since  elapsed : — 

TO  MRS.  M.  BROWN. 

London-,  July  1st,  1802. 
Your  letter,  my  sister,  of  December  last,  was  long  in  coming 
to  hand  ;  but  it  imparted  to  me  a  pleasure  comporting  with  the 
interest  which  my  heart  takes  in  whatever  concerns  you. 
Thanks  be  to  that  gracious  God  who  has  had  mercy  on  you 
again  in  bestowing  on  you  another  son,  and  raising  you  up  in 
8 


114  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  PRIVILEGES. 

health  from  the  bed  of  anguish  and  perih  Strong,  my  sister, 
and  many,  are  the  obligations  which  bind  us  to  gratitude.  We 
are  witnesses  that  "  a  good  man  leaveth  an  inheritance  to  his 
children's  children."  Sprung  from  a  father  whose  only  riches 
were  his  "  faith  and  good  works,"  we  have  felt  the  fostering 
care  of  a  liberal  and  benignant  Providence.  We  are  now 
reaping  the  partial  answer  of  those  prayers  which,  in  social 
and  secret  devotion,  drew  out  the  hearts  of  our  glorified 
parents.  0,  that  a  double  portion  of  their  spirit  may  fill  up 
what  is  wanting  of  the  full  accomplishment  of  their  desires! 
I  count  it  infinitely  greater  nobility  to  have  descended  from 
one  who  was  useful  to  men,  and  beloved  of  God,  than  to  occupy 
a  place  in  the  proud  lineage  of  earthly  peerage.  The  blood  of 
a  Christian  is  a  richer  current  in  our  veins  than  the  blood  of  a 
lord.  How  happ3^,  my  sister,  how  inexpressibly  happy,  if  in 
the  extension  of  our  privileges,  we  too  may  be  found  among 
the  children  of  the  light,  and  become,  in  our  turn,  of  heaven's 
nobility  !  "  If  children,  then  heirs^  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs 
with  Christ."  Be  this  our  first  concern.  Perish  the  pursuits 
of  a  "  world  which  lieth  in  wickedness,"  and  of  which  the 
"  fashion  passeth  away,"  rather  than  that  the  great  question 
should  remain  unsettled,  "  Whose  am  I,  and  whom  do  I  serve  ?" 
May  you  and  your  dear  husband,  and  your  precious  infants  be 
mutual  blessings  under  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus  !  O  give  him  no  rest,  till  you  have  reason  to  believe  that 
he  has  saved  you  with  an  everlasting  salvation. 

Your  information  about  the  religious  commotions  in  Ken- 
tucky was  seasonable  and  useful.  It  confirmed  the  suspicions 
I  had  previously  entertained.  I  thought  you  would  not  object 
to  the  insertion  of  an  extract  from  your  letter  in  some  of  the 
periodical  publications  in  this  country.  I  have  to  entreat  you 
to  note  down,  as  you  have  opportunity  and  leisure,  such  facts 
relating  to  this  singular  business  as  you  know  to  be  authentic, 
with  their  authorities.  I  devoutly  rejoice  that  notwithstanding 
the  irreguKiritics  which  have  taken  place,  religion  has  gained 
ground.  May  it  go  on  and  prosper.  While  I  am  sure  the 
Kentucky  method  is  not  the  method  in  which  the  Scriptures 
warrant  us  to  expect  that  the  Lord  will  revive  his  work,  yet  I 
would  be  cautious  how  I  condemn  in  the  lump.    He  may  bring 


GEORGE   III.   AND   WASHINGTON.  115 

order  oat  of  confusion.  If  there  is  reality,  the  dross  will  per- 
ish, but  the  gold  remain.  Do  not  fail,  however,  to  answer  this 
question,  which  is  all-important:  Did  the  real  advantages 
which  you  represent  religious  principle  to  have  attained,  precede 
or  follow  the  excesses  of  the  multitude?  or  have  they  appeared 
and  kept  pace  together  P 

I  do  not  love  London.  It  is  too  large ;  it  is  overgrown. 
But,  after  all,  London  is  the  place  of  beneficence. 

There  is  no  prospect  that  peace  will  long  continue,  nor  is  it 
expected  by  any  class  of  people.  The  cession  of  Louisiana  to 
France,  and  her  projected  operations  there,  excite  alarm.  I 
have  heard  the  best  speakers  in  Parliament  excepting  Fox  and 
Pitt.  Our  Congress  will  not  lose  much  by  a  comparison.  The 
character  of  the  King  is  mistaken  among  us.  Instead  of 
a  dull,  brainless  being,  he  is  one  of  the  shrewdest  and  best 
informed  men  in  his  dominions.  Instead  of  being  the  minis- 
ters' dupe,  he  uses  them  as  his  tools  ;  and  when  they  are  likely 
to  acquire  too  much  power,  takes  care  to  rid  himself  of  their 
services.  It  was  the  King  himself,  and  not  the  cry  for  peace, 
which  broke  up  the  Windham  and  Pitt  administration.  After 
all  that  I  have  seen  and  heard,  America  is  my  choice.  I  will 
return  better  satisfied  with  it  than  ever.  But  I  do  assure  you 
that  nothing  can  be  more  false  and  ridiculous  than  the  declama- 
tions about  the  slavery  and  wretchedness  of  the  people  here. 
There  is  as  much  liberty  as  an  honest  man  knows  how  to  use. 

Two  days  ago  I  had  a  peep  at  Majesty   going  to  prorogue 
the  Parliament.     The  King  is  a  fine  looking  man  ;  but  I  sighed, 
and  felt  proud  when  I  recalled  the  majesty  of  Washington. 
Ever  your  affectionate  brother, 

JNO.  M.  MASON. 

In  seeking  aid  to  found  a  Theological  School  in  New  York, 
he  felt  himself  greatly  encouraged  by  the  friendships  with 
which  he  met.  He  was  cheered  and  supported  by  the  patronage 
of  many  Christians  among  various  denominations.  Gentlemen 
of  high  standing  aided  the  enterprise,  both  by  their  own  con- 
tributions and  by  their  influence.  Among  them  it  was  most  gra- 
tifying to  find  such  men  as  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Mr.  Thornton,  Mr. 
Bonar,  Mr.  Hardcastle,  and  Dr.  Hunter.     If    he  could  have 


116  "first  kipe  fruits." 

remained  longer  in  London,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  amount  of  contributions  would  have  been  far  more 
considerable. 

From  London  he  returned  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  remained 
long  enough  to  arrange  articles  of  correspondence  with  a  Com 
mittee  of  the  Associate  Synod,  to  be  afterwards  submitted  to 
their  respective  judicatories.  These  articles  are  dated  Bristo, 
August  12,  1802,  and  signed  by  James  Peddie,  Committee 
Clerk,  and  J.  M.  Mason.  After  defining  various  modes  of 
communion  and  intercourse,  they  conclude  with  a  provision 
"  that  the  Associate  Synod  shall  from  time  to  time,  according 
to  their  ability,  and  as  the  circumstances  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  may  require,  do  everything  that  is  competent 
for  them  to  furnish  them  with  a  supply  of  ministers  and  pro- 
bationers, to  preach  the  gospel  under  their  inspection." 

Immediately  after  this  he  went  to  Ireland,  in  compliance 
with  an  engagement  previously  made,  and  held  a  conference 
with  a  Committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  the  Associate 
Synod  of  that  island.  Here,  too,  he  was  very  cordially  received, 
and  was  enabled  to  conclude  an  arrangement  which  was  entirely 
satisfactory  on  both  sides. 

Urgent  applications  were  made  to  him  for  the  publication  of 
all  the  sermons  which  he  preached  in  London.  But  un- 
fortunately, very  fev/  of  them  had  been  written.  On  this 
account,  he  found  it  necessary  to  decline.  It  seems,  however, 
that  unknown  to  himself,  some  London  bookseller  had  employed 
reporters  to  take  down  his  discourses  as  he  delivered  them,  and 
after  his  departure  put  them  to  press  as  "  First  Ripe  Fruits." 
They  tlius  appeared  in  what  he  regarded  a  very  mutilated  form, 
and  as  doing  him  great  injustice.  The  volume  was  also  accom- 
panied by  what  professed  to  be  a  biographical  sketch ;  but  it 
was  full  of  mistakes.  To  counteract  the  effects  of  such  an 
improper  procedure,  he  felt  compelled  to  promise  the  publica" 
tion  of  a  volume  or  two  on  his  return  to  America.  To  this 
promise,  (made  at  a  time  when  he  could  not  anticipate  the 
many  heavy  burdens  which  would  be  imposed  upon  him),  fre- 
quent reference  is  had  in  his  subsequent  correspondence ;  and 
it  subjected  him  to  importunities  which  must  have  been  some- 
times even  painful. 


FAREWELL   TO   A   FRIEND.  117 

His  last  letter  before  embarking  at  Greenock  was  directed  to 
a  friend  in  London,  as  follows : — 

"August  31,  1802. 

"  Your  affectionate  letter  has  strengthened  those  ties  by  which 
my  heart  is  bound  to  you  and  your  dear  family.  If  my  min^ 
istrations  have  been  at  all  blessed  to  any  of  you,  let  Him  have 
the  praise  who  alone  can  bless.  It  has  often  been  my  astonish- 
ment, and  often,  amidst  deep  dejection,  my  consolation  and 
support,  that  my  Divine  Master  has  owned  my  pitiful  services 
to  the  comfort  and  establishment  of  his  dear  people.  How 
wonderful,  my  friend, — how  overwhelmingly  gracious,  that 
unto  me,  w^ho  am  less  than  the  least,  this  favour  is  granted, 
that  I  should  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ !  Verily, 
he  means  to  show,  that  not  our  worthiness,  but  sovereign  love, 
is  the  source  of  his  bounties  ;  that  not  man,  but  the  Lord  alone, 
shall  be  exalted  in  the  success  of  his  Word  ;  or  he  never  would 
have  permitted  a  sentence  of  it  to  issue  from  my  uncircum- 
cised  lips.  Pray,  my  dear  friend,  for  his  Sanctifying  Spirit 
upon  my  person  and  my  labours.  Alas  !  the  very  best  of  them 
need  the  pardons  of  Messiah's  blood.  But  if  any  man  sin,  we 
have, — yea,  my  friend,  ice.  even  we^  have  an  advocate  with  the 
Father, — Jesus  Christ,  the  righteous  ;  Jesus  Christ  the  projDitia- 
tion  for  our  sins!  This  relieves  my  heart,  and  soothes  my 
conscience; — and  in  this  faith  I  hope,  through  unfathomable 
riches  of  covenant  mercy,  to  see  my  Lord  and  to  be  like  him. 
In  such  blessedness,  I  anticipate  the  meeting  with  my  friends 
of  your  house. 

"  I  understand  that  some  shorthand  writers  are  preparing  for 
publication  from  their  crude  notes  a  number  of  the  sermons 
which  I  preached  in  London,  I  consider  the  attempt  as  a  great 
injustice,  and  feel  compelled,  by  a  decent  regard  for  my  char- 
acter, however  reluctant,  to  authorize  you  to  say,  that  I  will,  if 
spared,  print  a  volume  myself,  as  soon  as  possible.  Any  other, 
I  will  not  acknowledge.  The  notes  of  your  young  friend,  if 
put  into  long  hand,  will  afford  me  much  assistance,  and  make 
me  her  debtor, 

"  I  scribble  in  great  haste.  The  wind  has  just  turned  fair,  and 
we  are  soon  to  sail." 


CHAPTEE  XI 


PROCEEDINGS    ON    HIS   RETURN. 

Meets  the  Synod — Keport  of  his  Mission — Synodical  letter  to  foreign  Synods — 
Appeal  to  Associate  Eeformed  Congregations — Certain  Schismatics — Over- 
loaded with  duties  at  the  Synod. 

A  FEW  days  after  his  return  home,  Mr.  Mason  met  with  the 
Synod  convened,  by  adjournment,  in  New  York,  October  21, 
1802  ;  and  gave  them  a  full  account  of  his  agenc}^  abroad,  in 
an  official  report  to  their  Moderator.  This  report,  after  detail- 
ing the  things  already  mentioned,  continues  as  follows  : — 

"My  instructions  requiring  me  to  endeavour  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  correspondence  with  some  religious  body  or 
bodies,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  a  future  supply  of  ministers,  it 
was  a  subject  which  particularly  occupied  my  thoughts  from 
the  first  moment  of  my  landing  in  Britain.  The  best  inquiries 
convinced  me  that  it  is  not  practicable  for  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church,  consistently  with  her  principles  and  comfort, 
to  maintam  an}^  such  correspondence  with  any  denomination  in 
Britain  or  Ireland,  but  those  usually  called  Burgher  Seceders. 
And,  considering  tbat  all  the  ministerial  aid  which,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  late  mission,  we  have  received,  or  hope  to  re- 
ceive, comes  from  the  brethren  of  that  connexion,  this  was  at 
once  the  most  obvious  and  only  natural  channel  into  which  the 
correspondence  could  be  directed.  Conformably  to  this  opin- 
ion, articles  of  correspondence  have  been  settled  with  the  afore- 
mentioned committees  from  the  Associate  Synods  in  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  and  await  the  determination  of  these  judicatories, 
and  of  the  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  re- 
spectively. 

"The  procuring  of  funds  toward  the  erection  and  support  of 


COLLECTIONS  ABROAD.  119 

a  theological  seminary,  under  the  inspection  of  this  Synod^ 
made  the  principal  object  of  my  attention  during  the  intervals 
of  the  transactions  already  detailed  in  this  report.  In  prose- 
cuting this  part  of  my  business,  I  at  different  times  visited 
Glasgow,  Stirling,  Paisley,  Greenock,  and  afterwards  London 
and  Manchester.  An  object  so  essential  to  the  v^^elfare  of  this 
Church,  and  so  influential  on  the  common  Christianity,  was 
countenanced  by  the  vigorous  patronage  of  many  Christians 
among  different  denominations.  Gentlemen  of  distinguished 
respectability,  both  in  Scotland  and  England,  interested  them- 
selves in  its  success.  They  distributed  among  their  friends  a 
circular  letter.  Their  active  good-will  prevented,  in  most  in- 
stances, the  necessit}^  of  my  personal  applications.  Had  it  been 
consistent  with  other  duties  to  have  remained  longer  in  Lon- 
don, there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  sum  would  have 
been  raised  equal  to  all  the  original  exigencies  of  the  proposed 
institution.  Notwithstanding  the  unpropitious  circumstance  of 
an  indisposition  which  suspended  all  my  operations  for  nearly 
three  months,  and  my  premature  departure  from  London,  the 
following  moneys,  as  stated  at  length  elsewhere,  have  been  col- 
lected :  From  Edinburgh  £96  195.,  Glasgow  £111  14.s.,  Green- 
ock £35  55.  6d,  Paisley  £39  I85.,  Stirling  £16  16.s.,  London 
£639  I65.  8K,  Manchester  £10  IO5.,  Eotherham  £20  ;  making 
in  the  whole,  £970  195.  2^d. 

"  Of  this  money,  the  principal  part^has  been  expended  in  the 
purchase  of  books,  most  of  which  are  to  be  deposited  in  the 
library  of  the  seminary.  The  rest  may  be  disposed  of,  hij  sale, 
as  the  Synod  shall  direct,  but  cannot  be  given  away  unless  their 
price  be  replaced,  as  the  whole  of  the  pecuniary  donations  were 
made  to  the  seminary  exclusively. 

"  Several  benefactions  have  also  been  made  in  books  to  the 
library. 

"Although  the  liberality  of  Christians  in  Britain,  towards  the 
seminary  contemplated  by  this  Synod,  could  not  but  receive  a 
check  by  the  return  of  their  agent,  yet  there  is  ground  to  think 
that  it  has  by  no  means  produced  its  whole  effect.  Gentlemen 
whose  names  are  a  sufficient  pledge  that  no  reasonable  effort 
shall  be  wanting,  nor  any  reasonable  expectation  disappointed, 
have  enchased  to  solicit  additional  benefactions. 


120  *  RESOLUTIONS   OF  THE   SYNOD. 

"The  business  of  the  mission  havino;  been  brou2;ht  to  a  close 
toward  the  end  of  August,  I  lost  no  time  in  preparing  for  my 
return,  and  on  the  1st  of  September  sailed  from  Greenock,  in 
company  with  the  Rev.  Messrs.  James  Scrimgeour,  Alexander 
Calderbead,  Robert  Forrest,  Robert  Easton,  James  Laurie, 
ministers,  and  Mr.  Robert  Hamilton  Bishop,  probationer,  who 
having  had  a  prosperous  voyage  by  the  will  of  God,  are  now 
present  to  tender  their  services  to  the  churclies." 

The  Synod,  after  hearing  the  report,  united  in  special 
"  thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  safe  return  of  their  Commis- 
sioner, and  the  happy  success  with  which  his  mission  had  been 
crowned."  They  also  unanimously  adopted  the  following  reso- 
lutions : — 

"  1.  That  the  very  important  mission  entrusted  to  Mr.  Mason 
has  been  executed  with  great  wisdom,  fidelity,  and  zeal. 

"  2.  That  the  liberal,  dignified  reception  given  to  our  repre- 
sentative by  the  Associate  Synod  of  Scotland,  and  a  committee 
of  the  Associate  Synod  of  Ireland,  and  that  the  serious  atten- 
tion to  our  interests  which  the. former  have  manifested  by  send- 
ing a  number  of  brethren  to  become  our  fellow-labourers,  are 
entitled  to  our  particular  acknowledgments. 

"  3.  That  the  principles  of  correspondence  agreed  upon  by 
Mr.  Mason,  in  behalf  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod,  and  the 
respective  committees  of  the  aforesaid  Synods,  appear  calcu- 
lated to  cherish  Christian  affection,  to  promote  mutual  confi- 
dence and  edification,  and  ought  to  be  adopted  by  this  Synod." 

At  the  same  meeting,  the  Synod  adopted  a  "judicial  letter," 
prepared  by  Messrs.  John  M.  Mason  and  Alexander  Proudfit, 
as  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  and  addressed  to  the 
Associate  Synods  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  respectively.  The 
principal  part  of  this  letter  is  as  follows: — 

"Reverend  and  Dear  Brethren: 

"We  embrace  this  early  opportunity  of  expressing  our  obli- 
gations for  that  cordial  and  liberal  reception,  given  by  you  to 
the  member  lately  delegated  to  represent  that  church  over  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  us  overseers.     It  is  to  us  a  source  of 


SYNODICAL   LETTEE.  121 

peculiar  rejoicing  to  learn  that  confidence  which  you  place  in 
us,  expressed  by  your  recognition  of  our  Synod  as  a  sister 
church,  corresponding  with  you  in  doctrine,  discipline,  govern- 
ment and  worship.  All  this  confidence,  we  trust,  is  reciprocated, 
on  our  part,  to  your  venerable  body.  While,  by  this  instrument, 
we  formally  acknowledge  you  as  brethren,  our  hearts  are  un- 
feignedly  united  to  you  by  the  most  intimate,  and  endearing, 
and  inviolable  of  all  bonds — the  bond  of  Christian  affection.  We 
embrace  and  esteem  you  as  workers  together  with  ourselves  in 
promoting  the  glory  of  our  common  Eedeemer,  and  the  edifica- 
tion of  His  mystical  body. 

"  Our  gratitude  is  not  inconsiderably  heightened  by  that 
seasonable  and  liberal  supply  of  the  ministry  of  reconciliation 
which  you  have  recently  afforded  our  churches.  It  is  a  mark 
of  Christian  zeal,  equally  dignified  and  disinterested,  when  local 
considerations  are  unregarded,  when  private  and  personal  con- 
veniences are  sacrificed,  in  the  prospect  of  promoting  the  general 
interests  of  religion.  It  participates  of  that  apostolic  liberality 
which,  regardless  of  the  particular  nation  in  which,  or  the  par- 
ticular instrument  by  whom,  rejoiced  in  the  consideration  that 
the  Saviour  was  preached,  and  precious  souls  edified  and  saved. 

"  Beloved  brethren,  through  the  good  providence  of  God  we 
are  continuing  to  go  on  and  prosper.  Our  Ebenezer  is  most 
reasonably  set  up,  proclaiming  to  the  riches  of  his  grace  and 
condescension,  '  Hitherto  hath  Jehovah  helped.'  With  a  rapidity 
almost  unexampled,  he  hath  extended  the  boundaries  of  our 
Synod  ;  he  is  increasing  between  our  people  at  large  and  the 
chief  judicatory  to  which  they  are  subordinate,  and  between  the 
different  pastors  and  the  congregations  immediately  under  their 
charge,  that  confidence  which,  under  God,  forms  the  chief 
security  of  mutual  comfort  and  edification. 

"Where  ordinances  are  statedly  dispensed  among  us,  Jehovah 
the  Sanctifier  is  not  leaving  himself  without  a  witness;  sinners, 
we  humbly  hope,  are  occasionally  made  subjects  of  His  saving 
operations,  and  heirs  of  salvation  more  sensibly  scaled  unto  the 
day  of  redemption. 

"  Numerous  and  pressing  applications  for  the  word  of  life  arc 
still  presented  to  us  from  the  frontier  settlements  of  our  country 
— from  places  where  the  gospel  is  scarcely  known,  and  where 


122  APPEAL  TO  THE  CHURCHES. 

the  message  of  reconciliation  through  the  cross  has  been  rarely 
proclaimed.  This  circumstance  still  prepares  us  to  receive  with 
open  arms,  and  welcome  with  grateful  hearts,  the  messenger  of 
salvation,  as  3'ou  may  be  able  to  furnish  him." 

At  the  same  meeting,  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  Associ- 
ate Keformed  Church,  prepared  by  a  committee  of  which  Mr. 
Mason  was  chairman,  was  adopted.     It  here  follows: — 

"The  Ministers  and  Elders  in  Synod  assembled,  considering 
that  the  erection  of  a  seminary  for  the  appropriate  education  of 
youth  who  design  the  holy  ministry  is  essential  to  the  pros- 
perity of  their  churches,  as  there  is  no  other  means  from  which 
they  can  hope  for  a  sufficient  and  permanent  succession  of 
ministers  ;  being  deeply  impressed  with  a  grateful  sense  of  the 
obligations  imposed  on  them  by  the  countenance  which  their 
proposed  seminary  has  received,  in  liberal  contributions  of 
Christians  in  Great  Britain ;  and  being  fully  convinced  that 
their  plan  can  easily  be  accomplished,  to  the  church's  great 
benefit,  by  the  regular  and  reasonable  aid  of  their  people ;  but 
that  without  such  aid  it  must  perish ;  and  that  all  the  evils 
which  the  Sjmod  foresee  from  such  an  event  must  be  realized ; 
do  hereby  most  earnestly  and  affectionately  entreat  the  support 
of  all  their  congregations,  settled  and  vacant,  agreeably  to  the 
terms  of  their  act  concerning  a  Synodical  fund.  They  feel 
confident  that  their  people  need  only  understand  the  object  for 
which  they  solicit  pecuniary  assistance,  to  be  both  prompt  and 
exemplar}^  in  affording  it.  They  cannot  suppose  that  any 
congregation  under  their  inspection  will  expose  itself  to  the 
reproach  of  having  less  concern  about  the  spiritual  prosperity 
of  its  own  brethren,  than  has  been  manifested  by  Christians  in 
a  foreign  land.  They  judge  themselves  bound  by  every  tie  of 
thankfulness  and  decorum  to  omit  no  exertion  for  carrying  into 
effect  the  intentions  of  those  disinterested  benefactors.  In  this 
they  indulge  the  pleasing  thought  that  they  speak  the  very 
heart  of  their  beloved  people.  They  acknowledge,  with  much 
satisfaction,  and  as  an  omen  of  general  good,  the  alacrity  which 
has  been  discovered  in  seconding  their  views  in  proportion  to 
the  examination  Avhich  they  have  undergone,  and  especially 
the  increase  of  contribution  to  the  public  fund  within  these  two 
years.     They  arc  confident  that  their  congregations  will  never 


PRESBYTERY  OF  CAROLINA  AND  GEORGIA.       123 

suffer  to  be  attaclied  to  their  character  the  blot  of  negligence 
towards  a  design  which  has  commanded  the  approbation  and 
zeal  of  Christians  abroad,  much  less  the  blot  of  permitting  all 
their  munificence  to  be  wasted  for  want  of  cooperation.  They, 
once  for  all,  assure  their  people,  that  nothing  more  is  necessary 
to  meet  the  various  claims  for  public  expenditure,  particularly 
to  establish  in  the  completest  manner  a  most  extensively  useful 
seminary  for  training  up  able  ministers  of  the  Word,  than  a  strict 
attention  to  the  recommendation  of  the  fore  mentioned  act;  and 
they  anticipate  the  pleasure  of  finding  from  the  annual  returns 
of  contributions,  that  they  have  not  erred  in  believing  tliat  their 
people  think  with  them."* 

Still  more  distinctive  traces  of  Mr.  Mason's  hand  may  be  seen 
in  the  measures  adopted  by  the  Synod  in  relation  to  certain 
disaffected  and  schismatic  members,  in  remote  and  less  informed 
congregations.  From  the  time  of  the  Union,  there  always  had 
been  a  few  in  almost  every  Scotch  settlement  who  were  rigidly 
tenacious  of  all  their  inherited  peculiarities,  and  felt  excessively 
afraid  of  innovation.  Every  change,  however  unimportant  or 
non-essential,  they  regarded,  or  affected  to  regard,  as  a  depart- 
ure from  the  "good  old  way,"  and  as  verging  towards  latitu- 
dinarianism — a  thing  which  Caledonians  almost  instinctively 
abhor.  They  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  altering  in  one  jot 
or  tittle  either  the  standards  or  customs  of  their  native  church. 
Sometimes,  doubtless,  there  were  honest  though  uninformed 
scruples  concerned  in  the  matter ;  but  at  other  times  nothing 
better  than  the  workings  of  prejudice.  Trouble  from  such 
sources  had  been  experienced  by  the  second  Presbj-tery  of 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  Two  of  their  ministers  (one  of  whom 
had  but  a  little  while  before  been  restored  from  a  suspension) 
"came forward  and  spoke  at  large  about  their  zeal  for  the  church, 
the  errors  of  Synod,  the  tenderness  of  their  consciences,  and 
concluded  by  informing  the  Presbytery  that  they  had  -sent  their 
declinature  to  Synod  with  their  reasons  in  full,  and  unless  the 
Presbytery  would  follow  their  example,   they  would  neither 

*^"  The  act  alluded  to,  requests  from  every  adult  member  and  hearer,  not  disabled 
by  poverty  in  every  congregation,  settled  and  vacant,  a  yearly  contribution  of 
half  a  dollar  to  be  regularly  transmitted;  through  the  Presbyteries,  to  the  Synod. 


124  PASTORAL   LETTER. 

touch,  taste,  or  handle  with  them.  This  being  refused  by  the 
Presbytery,  they  withdrew ;  and  the  Presbytery  apprehend 
that  they  will  injure  the  interests  of  the  church  all  they  can, 
especially  in  vacancies."  (Minutes  of  the  Presbytery.)  This 
case  was  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Mr.  M.  was  chairman. 
Part  of  their  report,  as  illustrating  at  once  his  tender  regard  for 
conscientious  scruples,  and  his  unsparing  severity  against  the 
captious  and  troublesome,  is  here  inserted : — 

"The  committee  have  attentively  considered  the  aforesaid 
papers,  and  arc  of  opinion  that  they  contain  little,  if  anything) 
to  give  just  cause  of  uneasiness  to  any  well-disposed  person. 
But  as  the  members  and  congregations  of  that  Presbytery 
appear  to  be  involved  in  difficulty,  they  recommend  that  the 
Synod  send  a  letter  of  explanation  and  advice  suited  to  their 
present  circumstances." 

The  most  important  portion  of  the  letter  prepared  by  the 
committee,  and  adopted  by  the  Synod,  follows : — 

"  The  Synod,  with  all  that  affection  and  regard  which  ought  to 
pervade  their  councils  relative  to  the  churches  under  their  care, 
have  perused  your  petition  and  letter.  It  grieves  them  that 
your  peace  should  be  marred,  and  the  edification  of  the  Church 
impeded  by  litigations,  of  which  some  are  frivolous,  and  all 
pernicious.  The  Synod  never  expected,  it  were  vain  to  expect> 
that  the  spirit  of  captiousness  will  be  entirely  subdued,  or  the 
tongue  of  slander  silenced.  No  conduct  can  be  so  shaped,  nor 
any  principle  so  expressed,  as  to  please  those  who  seek  occasion 
for  censure.  The  Synod  reminded  you  in  their  pastoral  letter 
of  1801,  that  they  cannot  descend  from  the  respect  which  they 
owe  to  themselves,  to  refute  every  cavil  and  calumny  against 
their  procedure.  They  are  resolved,  generally,  to  answer  with 
silence  the  insinuations  and  assertions  of  unreasonable  men. 
They  desire  all  their  subordinate  judicatories  to  pursue  the 
same  plan.  Go  on  in  the  path  of  your  duty  with  a  firm  and 
equal  step,  and  leave  to  their  own  insignificance  the  tales  of 
meddling  censoriousness,  which  'come  up  in  a  night,  and  perish 
in  a  night.'  While,  therefore,  the  Synod  would  not  have 
noticed,  on  their  own  account,  the  allegations  which,  from 
different  quarters,  arc  brought  against  them  ;  nevertheless,  out 


EXPLANATION  AND  VINDICATION.  125 

of  respect  to  your  wishes,  and  sympathy  with  your  particular 
situation,  they  inform  you,  that  the  modification  of  phraseology 
in  some  clauses  of  the  Confession  concerning  the  civil  magis- 
trate, were  not  intended  to  conform  the  Constitution  of  the  As- 
sociate Reformed  Church  to  the  constitution  of  any  other  body, 
civil  or  religious.  The  Synod  never  made  an  agreement  or 
disagreement  with  any  existing  ecclesiastical  or  political  insti- 
tution an  object  of  their  solicitude.  But  they  did  not  wish  to 
retain  expressions  which  might  be  interpreted  as  recognizing  in 
the  civil  magistrate  a  right  to  interfere  with  the  internal  econ- 
omy of  the  Cliristian  Church,  or  the  principle  of  persecution  for 
conscience  sake. 

"  The  omission  in  our  Constitution,  of  the  National  Covenant 
of  Scotland,  and  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  cannot 
wound  the  most  tender  conscience  if  rightly  informed.  It  is 
not  possible,  consistentl}'-  with  truth,  to  make  these  covenants,  as 
they  stand,  a  part  of  the  Church's  testimony  in  America  ;  and, 
therefore,  the  insertion  of  them  among  her  terms  of  communion, 
instead  of  promoting  the  edification  of  her  members,  would  only 
serve  as  a  snare  for  their  consciences.  To  be  at  all  applicable 
to  the  circumstances  of  this  church,  they  must  undergo  a  va- 
riety of  alterations.  But  the  moment  any  alteration  is  intro- 
duced into  an  instrument  of  solemn  compact,  it  ceases  to  be 
the  same  instrument.  To  modify  the  covenants,  therefore,  is  to 
destroy  them ;  they  instantly  cease  to  be  the  same  covenants ; 
and  the  persons  who  take  them  thus  modified,  instead  oi  renew- 
ing them,  do,  in  fact  enter  into  a  new  compact,  and,  by  that  very 
act,  resort  to  the  original  principle  of  covenanting. 

"  On  the  principle  of  explicit  public  covenanting,  the  Synod 
have  repeatedly  declared  their  views, 'in  terms  which  cannot  be 
easily  misunderstood  by  the  most  simple  and  illiterate.*  If, 
after  all  their  endeavours  to  free  their  own  sentiments  from 
misconstruction,  and  remove  honest  scruples  from  the  minds  of 
their  people,  they  cannot  escape  the  most  injurious  and  unfounded 
aspersions,  they  can  only  commit  their  cause  to  Divine  Provi- 
dence. If  any  man  will  still  be  ignorant,  let  him  be  ignorant. 
They  have  never  departed  from   a  principle  which  the}'  have 

*'"  See  the  22d  chapter  of  the  Overture  for  illustrating  and  defending  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  published  in  1788 ;  and  an  Act 
concerning  the  religious  connexions  of  the  Synod,  passed  and  published  in  1790. 


126  A  WORD   OF  REBUKE. 

formerly  asserted,  that  public  covenanting  is  an  exercise  suited 
to  very  singular  emergencies  of  the  church  ;  and  whenever,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  Synod,  such  emergencies  shall  occur,  they 
trust  they  shall  not  be  found  unmindful  of  their  duty. 

"  The  embarrassments  which  you  state  to  have  arisen  from 
different  views  among  the  ministers  and  people  of  the  two 
Presbyteries  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  concerning  the  days 
of  fasting  and  thanksgiving  usually  connected  with  the  dispen- 
sation of  the  Lord's  Supper,  are  very  afflicting  to  the  Synod. 
But  with  one  part  of  your  representation,  viz. :  that  you  '  ap- 
prehend these  Presbyteries  will  not  sit  in  a  Synod  until  some 
one  gives  up  their  practice  in  this  matter,'  the  Synod  are  not 
merelv  afflicted — thev  are  much  displeased  ;  and  thev  feel  them- 
selves  constrained,  by  the  fullest  convictions  of  duty,  to  admin- 
ister the  word  of  rebuke  as  well  as  of  exhortation.  The  ques- 
tion which  agitates  you  is  not  one  which  touches  the  vitals  of  a 
pure  communion.  It  is  not  one  of  greater  moment  than  some 
of  those  which  divided  the  apostolic  church,  and  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  commanded  to  be  a  subject  of  forbearance.  Men  who  are 
equally  upright  in  their  intentions,  equally  tender  of  the  Ee- 
deemer's  glory,  equally  firm  in  their  adherence  to  his  cross, 
equally  flxithful  in  their  several  vocations,  may  be,  have  been, 
are  now,  arrayed  on  opposite  sides  of  this  controversy.  It  is, 
therefore,  no  ground  of  separation.  Your  divisions,  brethren, 
especially  when  carried  to  such  a  height,  are  more  hurtful  than 
the  views  of  either  side.  To  refuse  judicial  and  affectionate 
intercourse  on  account  of  them,  would  be  schismatical  and 
offensive  in  the  highest  degree.  The  Synod  hope  and  believe, 
that  none  of  their  subordinate  judicatories  will  set  an  example 
of  that  hasty  and  causeless  rupture  of  religious  fellowship 
which  is  alike  repugnant  to  the  word  of  God,  and  ruinous  to 
the  prosperity  of  His  Church.  If  your  difference  on  this  sub- 
ject shall  end  in  separation,  or  if  you  shall  refuse  to  sit  together 
as  brethren,  there  will  be  too  good  reason  to  fear  that  it  resulted, 
not  from  love  to  the  body  of  Christ — not  from  an  endeavour  to 
keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace — not  from 
meek  and  brotherly  proceedure — but  from  the  indulgence  of 
unholv  tempers.  You  have  other  work  for  your  zeal  than  thus 
contending  with  each  other.  The  common  foe  stands  by  and 
waits  for  your  halting,  that  he  may  devour  both.     Unfriendly 


MULTTPLICrrY  OF   DUTIES.  127 

eyes  are  open ;  unfriendly  tongues  will  be  busy.     The  Synod 
therefore  counsel  you,  brethren — ^yea,  charge  you  in  the  name 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  there  be  no  divisions  among  you. 
They  are  bound  to  think  that  you  are  alike  desirous  of  building 
up  the  temple  of  God.     Bear  then  one  another's  burdens,  and 
so  fulnl  the  law  of  Christ.     Call  into  operation  the  apostolic 
principle  : — He  that  regardeth  the  day,  regardeth  it  unto  the  Lord  : 
ajtd  he  that  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  doth  not  regard  it 
The  whole  advice  and  injunction  of  the  Synod  are  summed  up 
in  this  one  word    forbear  I     As  you  would  not  weaken  the 
hands  of  your  brethren — as  you  would  not  grieve  their  hearts 
— as  vou  would  not  bring  leanness  into  your  own  souls,  and  a 
frown  upon  your  ministrations — as  you  would  not  rend  the 
body  of  Christ,  nor  burst  the  bands  of  his  love — as  you  hope  to 
give  in  your  accounts  with  joy — forbear  I     You  are  required 
to  meet  shortly  in  Synod.     You  will  find  employment  for  pro- 
moting the  church's  weal.     Let  us  hear  of  your  kind  and  har- 
monious coopemtion.     Kefi^sh  our  bowels.     Finally,  hrethren, 
Jareicell     Be  perfect,  be  of  good  comfort,  be  of  one  mind,  live  in 
peace,  and  the  God  of  love  and  peace  shall  be  with  you.     ^men." 

At  this  meeting  Mr,  Mason  was  also  made  chairman  of  several 
other  important  committees:  One  "to  take  charge  of  books 
purchased  for  the  library  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  to 
arrange  them  in  proper  order  with  respect  to  the  classification 
of  their  subjects,  and  cause  a  correct  catalogue  of  them  to  be 
made."  Another  "to  prepare  the  draught  of  a  plan  for  the 
Seminary  proposed  to  be  erected  by  the  Associate  Eeformed 
Church,  and  to  report  to  the  General  Synod,  at  their  meeting  to 
be  held  in  May,  ISOi."  A  third  "to  report,  at  the  same  time, 
on  the  most  proper  means  of  promoting  the  study  of  biblical 
literature  among  our  ministers,  and  a  habit  of  accuracy  in 
judicial  business,"  A  fourth,  to  prepare  a  draught  of  "  an  appli- 
cation to  be  made  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  for  a 
remission  of  the  duties  charged  upon  the  bx>ks  imported  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Seminary,"  A  fifth,  to  ''select  and  arrange 
for  publication  such  parts  of  the  minutes  of  the  proceedings  of 
this  Synod  as  they  shall  judge  proper;  to  superintend  the  print- 
ing of  such  extracts ;  to  cause  them  to  be  distributed,  with  all 
convenient  speed,  among  the  different  Presbyteries;   and  to 


128  LABOURS  AT  THE  SYNOD. 

cause  two  copies  of  tliem  to  be  transcribed  for  transmission  to 
the  Associate  Synods  of  Scotland  and  Ireland." 

To  all  these,  other  evidences  might  be  added,  of  the  very 
conspicuous  part  which  Mr.  Mason  was,  by  general  consent, 
called  to  act  in  the  judicatories  of  his  denomination.  Though 
but  just  returned,  from  a  year's  absence,  to  his  family  and  his 
flock — though  yet  in  the  midst  of  friendly  congratulations,  and 
the  resumption  of  accumulated  domestic  and  pastoral  duties — 
it  seems  that  he  was  burdened  with  the  chief  weight  of  the 
many  special  transactions  which  occupied  that  meeting.  All 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  perplexity  of  such 
matters,  can  scarcely  fail  of  wondering  at  the  amount  of  labours 
which  must  have  passed  through  his  hands.  It  was  certainly 
with  astonishing  ardour  that  he  always  entered  into  the  pro- 
ceedings of  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  applied  himself  to  those 
great  interests  of  religion  which  they  were  intended  to  subserve. 
His  known  promptness  and  sagacity — his  extraordinary  industr}' 
and  efficiency — could  not  fail  of  placing  him  in  the  first  station 
of  every  important  movement.  He  was  seldom  absent  from  any 
meeting,  and  was  always  attentive  to  every  part  of  the  business 
transacted.  He  entered  into  every  discussion  of  importance 
with  great  earnestness,  and  pushed  forward  every  public 
measure  with  great  vigour.  He  felt  expanded  desires  and 
strong  confidence  that  church  judicatories  might  do  much  in 
promoting  the  great  cause  for  which  they  were  instituted. 
His  ardent  mind,  his  ready  powers,  his  energy  and  courage, 
fitted  him  remarkably  for  acting  a  leading  part  in  every  Chris- 
tian enterprise.  The  consequence  was,  that  he  was  seldom  or 
never  left  without  a  disproportionate  share  of  the  most  difficult 
and  responsible  duties.  It  seldom  happened  that  his  shoulders 
were  not  loaded  with  a  heavier  burden  than  those  of  any  other 
member.  Nor  did  he  ever  shrink  from  any  task  laid  upon  him, 
and  satisfaction  was  generall}^  given  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  performed  it.  A  minister  who  was  present  on  the  occasion 
referred  to,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Dickc}^,  under  date  of  Dec.  29, 1802, 
speaks  of  "the  over  share  of  business  devolved  upon  you  from 
the  Synod  and  its  members,  with  the  multitude  of  things  which' 
must  have  been  waiting  for  your  attention  on  your  return  ;" 
and  adds,  "Indeed  I  felt  sorry  that  you  should  be  charged  with 
so  many  things  at  a  time  so  inconvenient." 


CHAPTEE    XII. 

1803-1804. 

FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENCK. 

Letter  from  Joseph  Hardcastle,  Esq. — Letter  to  the  London  Missionary  Society 
— Letter  from  Rev.  George  Burder — Letter  from  Rev.  W.  Carey — Letter  to 
Joseph  Hardcastle,  Esq. — Letter  from  Robert  Bowyer,  Esq. — Letter  to  Robert 
Bowyer,  Esq. — Letter  to  Miss  S.  C.  Covell — Letter  to  A.  Simpson,  Esq. — Letter 
to  Mrs.  Dr.  Hunter — Letter  to  R.  Spear,  Esq. — Letter  to  Rev.  William  Kidston 
—Letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  John  Dick — Letter  from  Mr.  Hardcastle — Missions — 
National  Commotions — British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society — Letter  to  Mr.  E . 
Mason,  Edinburgh.      '^ 

Additional  particulars  on  subjects  touched  before,  together      * 
with  other  topics  of  moment,  will  be  found  in  the  subjoined 
letters.     If  fewer  facts  are  given,  they  are  no  less  important :    • 
and  much  more  will  be  seen  of  those  peculiar  turns  of  thought, 
eurren  tsof  feeling,  and  style  of  writing,  which  develope  char- 
acter. 

The  following  private  letter  from  Mr.  Hardcastle,  accompany- 
ing documents  from  the  London  Missionary  Society,  contains 
some  further  evidence  of  the  impressions  which  Mr.  Mason  had 
left  in  England ;  also  of  the  thoughts  and  plans  which  British 
Christians  entertained  respecting  France.  Thus  early  appeared 
the  germ  of  schemes  which  have  more  recently  been  matured 
into  the  form  of  associations  for  evangelizing  the  infidel  and 
papal  portions  of  Europe.  Moreover  this  letter  brought  Mr. 
Mason  the  first  direct  intelligence  concerning  the  decease  of  a 
very  distinguished  and  dear  friend  in  London : — 

TO  THE  REV.  J.  M.  MASON. 

Rev.  AND  Dear  Sir  :     I  cannot  permit  our  public  letter  to 
pass  through  your  hands,  without  accompanying  it  with  a  testi- 
mony of  my  personal  respect  and  affection.     Your  social  inter- 
9 


130  MISSION  TO   FRANCE. 

course  and  jour  public  ministry  have  left  an  impression  on 
many  hearts,  which  will  be  long  retained.  I  feel  persuaded 
also,  that  the  attachments  which  you  formed  here  with  many 
of  the  excellent  of  the  earth,  will  frequently  be  revived  in  your 
mind,  and  awaken  your  friendly  sympathies.  With  many  of 
these,  no  personal  intercourse  will  be  renewed,  till,  in  the  world 
of  spirits,  the  relations  of  time  and  of  grace  are  recognized  and 
resumed  for  eternity ;  and  in  the  interval  you  will  occasionally 
be  hearing  of  the  removal  of  one  and  another  of  your  Christian 
friends  here. 

It  fills  my  heart  with  the  most  tender  sensibility,  to  call  up 
the  springs  of  sorrow  in  yours,  by  relating  the  departure  of  one 
of  the  dearest  associates  you  conversed  with  in  England,  Your 
excellent  and  affectionate  brother  in  Christ,  Dr.  Hunter,  has 
taken  his  station  among  the  immortals. 

The  event  occurred  at  Bristol,  where  he  had  passed  a  few- 
weeks  by  the  recommendation  of  his  friends,  but  the  particular 
circumstances  have  not  reached  me.  A  day  or  two  previous  to 
my  departure  for  France,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him,  ap- 
parently in  firm  health,  and  in  his  usual  spirits.  A  few  of  3^our 
friends  met  him  at  our  counting  house,  to  consider  what  further 
measures  ought  to  be  adopted  with  a  view  to  promote  your  object 
of  the  Seminary.  An  outline  of  a  representation  of  the  case 
to  the  religious  public  was  prepared,  in  order  to  its  insertion  in 
the  Evangelical  Magazine,  after  it  should  have  received  some 
revision,  which  our  late  worthy  friend  undertook  to  give  it.  A 
short  time  after,  while  administering  the  Lord's  Supper,  he  was 
seized  with  the  disorder  which  in  a  few  weeks  terminated  his 
life. 

By  the  enclosed  report  you  will  perceive  the  result  of  our 
mission  to  France.  The  friends  who  accompanied  me  were  the 
Kev.  Messrs.  Bogue,  A¥ilks  and  Waugh.  Openings  for  the 
gospel  appear  to  us  remarkably  encouraging.  Evanfjelicalmin- 
isters  are  much  wanted,  the  peculiar  and  prominent  doctrines 
of  revelation  being,  I  fear,  generally  abandoned,  even  by  Prot- 
estants. But  were  they  presented  with  clearness  and  force,  we 
have  reason  to  believe  the  churches  would  be  crowded,  even 
with  Catholics.  Should  there  be  any  French  Protestant  minis- 
ters in  America  disposed  to  return  to  their  native  countr}',  they 


VANDER  KEMP,   THE  MISSIONARY.  131 

need  be  at  no  loss  to  settle  in  stations  of  great  scope  for  useful- 
ness, and  would  be  well  supported,  provided  they  were  of  the 
above  description. 

Mrs.  H.  and  my  daughter  desire  to  unite  their  affectionate 
respects  with  mine,  to  yourself  and  family.  I  hope  shortly  to 
hear  of  your  safety  and  welfare,  and  it  will  at  all  times  afford 
me  particular  satisfaction  to  receive  letters  from  you.  I  hope 
for  the  continuance  of  encouraging  accounts  from  your  side,  and 
have  the  pleasure  to  say,  that  the  gospel  appears  to  be  making 
gradual  progress  in  this  country.  In  the  sincere  affection  which 
its  principles  inspire,  I  remain,  dear  Sir,  your  faithful  friend, 

JOSEPH  HARDCASTLE. 

To  the  public  letter,  accompanying  the  above,  the  following 
is  an  answer.  It  shows  what  kind  of  intercourse  was  main- 
tained between  distant  societies,  and  what  kind  of  intelligence 
interested  Christians  of  that  day : — 

New  York,  July  20,  1803. 
To  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  the  Directors  of 
the  New  York  Missionary  Society  ivish  grace,  mercy  and  jpeace^ 
through  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

Your  letter,  brethren,  of  the  3d  Nov.,  1802,  with  the  accom- 
panying publications,  afforded  us  much  of  that  pleasure  which 
can  spring  only  from  the  reality  of  Christian  fellowship.  We 
rejoice  in  your  joy  on  account  of  all  the  good  things  which  God 
our  Saviour  blesses  your  eyes  to  see,  and  your  hearts  to  expe- 
rience. We  learn  with  gratitude  that  your  apostolic  mission- 
ar}''.  Dr.  Vander  Kemp,  is  still  preserved,  and  still  labours  with 
his  indefatigable  zeal  among  the  poor  Hottentots.  A  zeal  so 
fervid,  a  spirit  so  intrepid  and  patient,  a  self-denial  so  exem- 
plary, an  attachment  to  the  cross  so  devoted,  as  characterize  this 
faithful  and  beloved  man,  cannot  surely  have  been  bestowed  in 
vain.  We  indulge  the  hope  that  he  is  now  acting  a  distin- 
guished part  in  that  great  plan  which  the  Lord  is  executing  by 
the  instrumentality  of  men  whose  breath  is  in  their  nostrils; 
and  in  the  progress  of  which  he  may  "say  to  the  North,  give 
up ;  and  to  the  South,  keep  not  back.  Bring  my  sons  from 
far,  and  my  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the  earth." 


182  MISSIONS   IN  AMERICA. 

We  likewise  join  with  you  in  thanksgiving  for  the  prospects 
which  have  opened  to  the  Gospel  in  France  and  Italy.  The  re- 
port of  your  committee  on  that  subject  was  read  at  one  of  our 
monthly  meetings  for  prayer,  and  produced  a  very  strong  sen- 
sation. How  wonderful  in  counsel,  and  how  excellent  in  work- 
ing is  our  God  !  None  but  his  own  wisdom  and  his  own  arm 
could  render  those  judgments,  by  which  he  consumes  the  man 
of  sin,  subservient  to  the  spread  of  truth  and  purity.  May  he 
hasten  in  his  time  the  downfall  of  that  son  of  perdition  ;  and 
the  glory  which  he  hath  promised  shall  arise  upon  the  world ! 
May  your  efforts,  brethren,  be  honoured  with  success  in  pour- 
ing the  light  of  the  glorious  Gospel  of  Christ  upon  the  thick 
darkness  of  Papal  countries,  and  be  hereafter  a  topic  of  praise 
among  the  nations,  which  his  dominion  shall  reach  from  sea  to 
sea,  and  from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ! 

We  wish  it  were  in  our  power  to  increase  your  joy,  by  de- 
claring what  great  things  God  hath  wrought  among  our  heathen 
for  his  namesake.  Our  mission  to  the  North  Western  Indians 
does  indeed  flourish  :  that  is,  the  missionary  is  kindly  treated 
and  respectfully  heard  by  them.  There  is  also  reason  to  believe 
that  the  word  of  the  kingdom  is  not  altogether  as  water  spilled 
on  the  ground.  There  is  encouragement  from  the  circumstance 
that  our  success  thus  far  has  been  through  much  opposition 
from  the  adversary.  We  desire  not  to  despise  the  day  of  small 
things,  but  to  pray  and  wait  with  all  perseverance,  till  the 
Lord,  according  to  his  promise,  rains  down  righteousness 
upon  us. 

Were  every  enterprise  of  our  own  concerting  to  be  success- 
ful, we  would  be  too  prone  to  reflect  with  complacency  upon 
our  own  wisdom  and  strength.  Therefore,  although  we  feel 
pained  to  inform  you  that  our  mission  to  the  Chickasaw  Indians 
seems  ready  to  perish,  we  would  derive  from  the  disappoint- 
ment a  lesson  of  dependence  and  submission.  We  must  sub- 
scribe the  Scriptural  doctrine  in  its  public  as  well  as  private  ap- 
plication, that  it  is  not  of  him  that  willetb,  nor  of  him  that 
runneth,  but  of  God  that  showeth  mercy. 

The  report,  annexed  to  the  sermon  herewith  transmitted, 
will  furnish  more  particulars  concerning  both  our  missions  and 
our  means. 


RENEWAL   OF   HOSTILITIES.  133 

If  we  hear  of  any  persons  qualified  to  be  missionaries  in 
France,  we  shall  not  fail  to  advise  you — although  we  fear  that 
the  renewal  of  hostilities  will  have  an  unhappy  effect  upon 
your  designs  toward  that  country.  It  is  doubtless  to  be  de- 
plored that  the  sword  is  again  unsheathed,  and  that  blood  must 
again  flow.  How  necessary,  dear  brethren,  and  precious  is  the 
support  of  the  Gospel  in  evil  days!  How  high  the  privilege 
to  possess  our  souls  in  patience,  when  confusion  and  dismay 
assail  the  world !  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  we  receive  a  kingdom 
which  cannot  be  moved !  We  pray  for  you  in  these  times  of 
trouble.  We  pray  for  our  brethren  in  the  common  salvation, 
whose  lot  may  be  cast  amidst  scenes  of  peril  and  violence. 
May  he  who  is  the  hope  of  Israel  and  the  Saviour  thereof,  pre- 
serve us  all  to  his  heavenly  kingdom  !  We  wish  you  much  of 
his  presence  and  Spirit;  and  entreat  your  intercession  for  us, 
that  jointly  and  individually  we  may  be  faithful  unto  death, 
and  afterwards  may  inherit  the  crown  of  life. 
By  order  of  the  Directors. 

JOHN  M.  MASON,  Secretary. 

TO   THE   REV.  J.  M.  MASON,  Secretary,  &c. 

London,  July  22,  1803. 

Dear  Sir  :  I  beg  leave  to  advise  you,  that,  according  to  a 
vote  of  the  Missionary  Society,  Mr.  Hardcastle  dispatched  for 
you  on  the  20th  inst.,  by  the  Martha^  Captain  Waddell,  a  parcel 
containing  an  Address  to  the  Missionary  Society  of  New  York, 
and  a  printed  report  of  our  proceedings  during  the  past  year, 
both  which,  I  hope,  will  afford  to  your  missionary  friends  en- 
couragement to  proceed  in  the  good  work. 

We  have  lately  received  information  from  the  East  Indies 
that  the  Kev.  Mr.  Gerike  (who  succeeds  Mr.  Swartz)  has  been 
most  wonderfully  successful.  Whole  villages  invited  him  to 
preach  the  Gospel  among  them,  renounced  idolatry,  burnt  their 
idols  publicly,  and  embraced  the  Christian  doctrine.  He  and 
his  associates  had  baptized  at  least  2,700  persons.  Glory  be  to 
God !  The  whole  letter  will  appear  in  the  Evangelical  Maga- 
zine for  August. 

It  pleased  God  about  two  months  ago,  to  deprive  our  society 
of  one  of  its  most  valuable  friends  and  officers,  the  Eev.  Mr. 


134  ARMAMENT  IN    ENGLAND. 

Ejre.  This  is  a  great  loss ;  but  we  trust  the  Lord  will  enable 
us  who  remain  to  be  as  active  as  possible,  to  supply  his  lack  of 
service. 

Great  energies  are  now  emploj'ed  by  our  government  in 
consequence  of  the  threatened  invasion.  A  general  armament  is 
intended,  and  the  men  are  to  exercise  on  the  Lord's  day.  This 
is  a  measure  so  pregnant  with  danger  to  the  religion  and  morals 
of  the  people,  that  pious  men  are  greatly  alarmed,  and  I  hope 
have  prevailed  to  obtain  an  exemption  for  tender  consciences. 

I  shall  think  myself  honoured,  Sir,  by  frequent  communica- 
tions from  you.  We  long  to  hear  from  you.  Let  us  know 
particularly  how  religion  and  your  Missionary  Society  prosper. 

When  may  we  hope  for  your  volume  of  sermons  ?  It  would 
be  certain  of  a  most  extensive  circulation. 

Your  affectionate  brother  in  the  Lord, 

GEO.  BURDEK,  Secretary  L.  M.  S. 

Through  a  member  of  his  church,  Mr.  Mason,  Secretary  of 
the  New  York  Missionary  Society,  commenced  a  correspond 
ence  with  that  early  and  distinguished  Missionary  who  did  so 
much  for  diffusing  the  light  of  Eevelation  among  the  Hindoos 
— the  Rev.  William  Carey.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  this 
was  the  mission  against  which  The  Edinhurgh  Review^  in  an 
early  number,  directed  its  keenest  satire,  treating  as  folly  every 
attempt  to  Christianize  a  people  without  first  civilizing  them. 
How  j^leasing,  that  in  America,  as  well  as  in  Britain,  there 
were  men  of  an  opposite  spirit,  and  thus  of  an  opposite  view. 
The  insertion  of  Dr.  Carey  s  letter  here,  will  doubless  be  re- 
garded either  with  favour  or  disfavour  according  to  the  feelings 
which  preponderate  in  the  mind  of  the  reader.  In  justice  to 
the  lievieiv,  however,  we  ought  to  add,  that  it  has  since  become 
as  laudatory  of  evangelical  missions,  as  it  was  once  denun- 
ciatory. 

TO    THE    REV.  J.  M.  MASON. 

Calcutta,  November  9,  1803. 

Yery  Dear  Sir  :  Yours,  with  several  pamphlets,  by  Mr. 
Smith,  I  have  received,  and  feel  myself  under  obligation  to  you 
for  such  kind  attentions  to  us. 


FEUITS  OF   MISSIONARY   EFFORT.  135 

I  am  sorry  you  make  any  apology  about  writing  to  me.  We 
are  brethren,  and  I  trust  each  of  us,  to  the  best  of  our  present 
knowledge,  is  following  our  Lord.  Differences  of  judgment 
have  always  existed  in  the  church  since  it  became  a  body  of 
any  magnitude,  and  probably  will  continue  to  exist.  Let  us,  how- 
ever, be  attentive  to  the  main  thing,  and  principally,  nay  wholly, 
follow  the  gloTy  of  God  as  our  object ;  and  I  doubt  not  but 
other  differences  will  in  a  great  measure  subside  and  disappear. 

The  Lord  has  been  very  gracious  to  us  in  several  respects ; 
though,  when  wc  compare  the  few  who  have  been  brought  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  with  the  amazing  multitudes  who 
are  still  wallowing  in  the  grossest  vice  and  the  most  senseless 
superstition,  we  sometimes  feel  a  momentary  discouragement, 
and  say,  "We  have  wrought  no  deliverance  in  the  Earth; 
neither  have  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  fallen."  Our  dis- 
couragements seldom  last  long,  and  indeed  ought  not ;  for  that 
God,  who  has  set  his  hand  to  the  work  of  conversion  here, 
is  not  only  able  to  carry  it  on,  but  is  infinitely  interested  in  its 
progress. 

We  have  baptized  twenty -six  natives,  three  of  whom  are 
Brahmans,  and  five  Mussulmans.  The  remainder  are  of  various 
castes  of  the  Hindoos.  Two  of  them  have  departed  this  life, 
and  held  out  honourably  to  the  last.  Among  the  others  are 
some  who  may  in  time  be  profitable  for  the  ministry,  and  most 
of  them  give  us  much  pleasure  by  their  conduct. 

The  first  edition  of  the  New  Testament  has  been  nearly  dis- 
tributed, and  has  been  read  by  very  many.  A  second  edition 
is  now  in  the  press,  and  will  be  published  as  soon  as  possible. 
The  Old  Testament  is  going  on  as  fast  as  circumstances  will 
permit.     I  hope  soon  to  see  the  whole  published. 

The  great  work  which  has  lately  been  carried  on  in  America, 
is  unspeakably  encouraging.  I  hope  that  it  still  goes  on,  and 
will  go  on,  till  that  great  continent  be  brought  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  I  have  not  lately  heard 
anything  new  about  missionary  affairs  in  America.  I  hope  that 
good  work  is  pursued  with  increasing  vigour.  Success  may  be 
delayed,  but  is  certain  in  the  end. 

How  long  will  it  be  ere  that  disgrace  of  human  nature,  the 
Slave  Trade,  is  banished  from  America  ?     I  can  scarcely  sum- 


136  THE   MEMORY   OF   PAST  JOYS. 

mon  up  charity  enough  to  believe  that  any  person  who  buys 

and  sells  human  beings  can  be  a  Christian. 

I  am  affectionately  yours, 

WILLIAM  CAREY. 

TO  JOSEPH  HARDCASTLE,  Esq. 

New  York,  August  1,  1803. 

My  Very  Dear  Friend  :  I  can  scarcely  believe  that  this 
day  completes  a  twelvemonth  since  I  had  the  happiness  of  see- 
ing you,  and  that  to-morrow  morning  will  be  the  anniversary 
of  that  painful  hour  when  I  took  my  leave  of  the  dear  family 
at  Hatcham  House,  never  perhaps  to  meet  till  our  pilgrimage 
be  over.  At  the  same  time  I  am  not  without  a  pang  of  a  dif- 
ferent and  less  honourable  nature,  and  in  respect  to  which  you 
are  perhaps  inclined  to  be  sceptical  when  you  cast  your  eye 
upon  the  date  of  my  letter,  and  remember  what  it  ought  to 
have  been.  Ah  !  my  dear  Sir,  if  you  knew  my  compunction, 
you  would  not  for  one  moment  withhold  your  forgiveness.  Place 
my  misdemeanour  to  the  account  of  business,  of  indolence,  of  a 
singular  facility  of  procrastination,  which  has  alwa3'S  been  my 
evil  genius — of  anything  but  that  of  which  your  heart  is  inca- 
pable of  feeling — insensibility  or  ingratitude.  Grievous  as  are 
our  trials  in  this  life,  our  condition  would  be  much  more  forlorn 
than  it  is,  were  we  denied  the  recollection  of  what  is  past. 
Departed  joys  have  a  sweet  remembrance,  when  they  have 
grown  out  of  the  principles  and  been  sanctified  by  tlie  grace 
of  the  gospel.  Among  the  many  pleasurable  reflections  which 
lighten  our  toil  in  this  wearisome  world,  those  arising  from 
former  intercourse  of  Christians  are  not  the  least.  One  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  hope,  one  heart  under  the  influence 
of  that  hope,  are  better  enjoyments  than  spring  from  the  in- 
crease of  corn  and  wine  ;  enjoyments,  which  leave  no  sting  in 
the  conscience ;  which  continually  remind  us  that  the  children 
of  the  kingdom  are  treading  a  common  path ;  which  furnish 
precious  pledges  of  the  fellowship  on  high;  which  shall  neither 
be  mingled  with  bitterness,  nor  interrupted  by  change.  I 
would  not  for  the  gold  of  Potosi  lose  that  precious  hope  and 
belief,  that  a  review  of  the  way  in  which  the  Lord  our  God 
shall  have  led  us  by  the  hand  will  form  one  of  the  employ- 
ments of  the  blessed.     We  shall  talk  over  the  transactions  of 


SPIRITUAL   SUPPORT.  137 

London,  and  the  walks  of  Hatcbam  gardens,  with  another  lan- 
guage and  other  views  than  are  permitted  to  our  present  facul- 
ties. "  We  who  are  in  this  tabernacle,  do  groan."  Oh,  for  that 
consummation,  when  we  shall  get  the  last  victory  over  death; 
shall  see  Jesus  as  he  is  ;  shall  be  like  him  ;  and  shall  hear  from 
his  own  lips  the  explanation  of  both  his  truth  and  his  dispen* 
sations !  I  frankly  confess  to  you,  my  dear  friend,  that  I  am 
often  near  to  fainting,  and  disposed  to  say,  in  a  spirit  too  little 
resigned,  "  It  is  better  for  me  to  die,  than  to  live."  One  of  my 
greatest  luxuries,  is  even  an  earthly  bosom  into  which  I  can 
pour  out  a  part  of  the  anguish  which  is  created  by  the  rebel- 
lions of  the  "  old  man."  Everlasting  thanks  to  our  Lord  Jesus, 
that  he  is  able  to  "  succour  those  who  are  tempted,  seeing  that 
he  also  was  tempted."  This  is  a  wonderfal  word,  which  ought 
to  stop  our  mouths,  or  open  them  in  adoration — "Though  he 
were  a  son,  yet  learned  he  obedience  by  the  things  w^hich  he 
suffered."  That  school  is  of  high  import  and  salutary  lesson,  of 
which  "  the  Word  made  flesh"  was  not  exempted  from  the 
discipline  !  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  for  the  promise  of  release  ! 
We  have  only  to  follow  those  who  through  faith  and  patience 
inherit  the  promises.  They  have  the  advantage  of  us ;  but 
we  can  do  one  thing  for  our  Eedeemer  which  they  cannot — 
glorify  him   by  suffering,  and  conquer  by  believing.     But  it  is 

only  a  little  while,  and  then oh,  what  shall  be  then  ? 

The  friends  who  undertook  to  prosecute  the  interests  of  our 
Seminary,  have  the  gratitude  of  our  churches.  Of  my  own 
they  need  no  assurance.  Patience  in  waiting  for  fruits,  and 
firmness  in  resisting  difficulty,  added  to  faith  and  supplication, 
will  work  wonders.  I  have  no  fear  for  ultimate  success. 
Kome  was  not  built  in  a  day.  We  cannot  conjure  up  seminaries 
at  our  pleasure.  We  must  not  "  despise  the  day  of  small 
things,"  and  we  beg  that  our  Christian  benefactors  in  Britain 
will  not  expect  more  in  a  given  time  than  the  nature  of  things 
renders  practicable.  A  committee,  of  whom  I  am  one,  are 
directed  to  have  a  plan  of  instruction  digested  by  the  meeting 
of  the  Synod  in  May  next.  This  alone  will  require  much 
thought  and  mature  consideration  to  do  it  well.  Every  day 
cools  me  more  and  more  to  mushroom  measures,  which  are  to 


138  SOLID   GOOD   OF  SLOW   GROWTH. 

have  extensive  and  lasting  effects.  "  Make  haste  slowy,"  is  a 
maxim  which  the  abortive  fits  of  green  zeal  in  myself  and 
others,  have  taught  me  in  some  measure  to  understand.  I  have 
lived  but  a  short  time,  and  very  short  indeed,  dating  from  the 
time  when  frisky  boyhood  swells  into  sanguine  youth.  It  is 
not  long  since  I  imagined  the  reformation  of  the  world,  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  the  propagation  of  sound  literature, 
&c.  &c.,  were  easy  matters.  But  I  have  already  tried  long 
enough  to  dismiss  these  visions,  and  to  learn  that  no  effectual 
good  is  to  be  obtained  but  by  diligence  and  fortitude  in  the 
use  of  proper  means  ;  and  that  a  man  in  a  comraunit}'-  acting 
upon  system,  never  losing  sight  of  the  end,  always  returning 
to  the  charge  after  every  repulse,  and  persevering  in  the  course, 
is  almost  infallibly  sure  of  accomplishing  his  object,  and  that 
with  much  less  delay  than  afterwards  appears  credible.  On 
this  principle,  I  flatter  myself  that  our  friends  in  Britain  may 
see  an  harvest  spring  up  from  the  seed  they  have  contributed 
to  sow,  and  it  will  surely  be  no  damper  to  us  if  they  incline  "  in 
the  morning  to  sow  their  seed,  and  in  the  evening  not  to  hold 
their  hand." 

Thus  far  had  I  written,  when  business,  which  called  me  from 
home,  interrupted  my  conversation  with  ni}''  friend ;  and  I  had 
but  only  returned  one  day  when  the  formidable  reappearance 
of  that  scourge,  from  which  our  city  has  been  mercifully  ex- 
empted for  three  years,  the  yellow  fever,  made  it  necessary 
to  seek  an  asylum  for  my  family.  An  alarm  which  had 
been  given  a  fortnight  before  was  rapidly  subsiding,  and  the 
danger  was  thought  nearlj''  over  on  Sabbath,  14th  of  August. 
But  the  next  morning  we  were  surprised  with  such  a  sudden  and 
serious  inroad  of  the  destroyer  as  united  medical  men  in 
advice  to  leave  the  city.  The  advice  produced  an  electric  ef- 
fect. Whole  districts  are  completely  deserted.  So  general  an 
evacuation  was  never  before  known.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the 
best  informed,  that  without  this  measure,  the  calamity  would 
have  been  frightful  beyond  example.  Nothing  but  black  frost 
will  kill  the  venom  floating  in  the  air.  This  cannot  be  ex- 
pected before  November ;  so  that  all  the  business  and  arrange- 
ments of  our  commercial   metropolis   will    be   suspended   for 


YELLOW  FEVER  IN  NEW  YORK.  139 

nearly  three  months.  You  will  sympathize  with  us.  I  re- 
turned to  this  place  (Newark),  a  delightful  village,  some  nine 
miles  west  of  New  York,  on  the  16th  ult.  My  family,  includ- 
ing six  children,  one  of  whom  is  a  present  from  the  Lord 
since  I  came  from  England,  is  in  perfect  health.  My  congre- 
gation has  hitherto  lost  only  a  single  member  by  the  epidemic. 
Of  the  multitudes  who  are  unable  to  retire,  the  deaths  have 
not  averaged  more  than  six  a  day.  You  may  think  it  strange, 
but  it  is  true,  that  while  death  holds  his  reign  over  a  great 
portion  of  the  eastern  margin  of  the  city,  so  that  none  venture 
there  but  with  imminent  danger,  other  parts  of  it  are  un- 
touched. We  cannot  but  lament  and  feel  humbled,  that  the 
dispersion  of  our  citizens  has  broken  up  our  worshipping 
assemblies,  and  shut  our  sanctuaries.  This,  though  perhaps 
least  regarded  by  many,  is  not  the  lightest  part  of  the  judg- 
ment. Alas,  we  are  a  sinful  people  !  laden  with  iniquity  ;  the 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  right.  Oh,  that  when  his  voice 
crieth  unto  the  city,  we  may  have  wisdom  to  see  his  name  ;  to 
hear  the  rod,  and  who  hath  appointed  it !  I  go  every  Lord's 
day  to  the  island,  and  preach  to  such  of  my  flock  (and  they 
are  not  a  few)  as  can  be  collected  at  a  j)oint  two  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  city. 

I  had  hoped  to  enclose  an  official  communication  from  our 
Board  of  Directors  to  yours  ;  but  it  cannot  be  effected  till  Ave 
be  permitted  to  return.  Our  missionary,  Mr.  Holmes,  to  a  large 
portion  of  piety  and  zeal,  adds  the  benefit  of  experience,  and 
much  of  that  quality  more  rare  and  valuable  in  dealing  with 
Indians  than  any  other  quality  merel}''  intellectual — strong 
natural  sense.  We  have  high  hopes,  that  among  the  tribes  to 
which  he  is  sent,  God  our  Saviour  will  make  to  himself  a 
glorious  name. 

Assure  Mrs.  and  Miss  H.  that  I  retain  an  affectionate  remem- 
brance of  them  and  their  society.  To  the  younger  members 
of  your  family,  one  by  one,  I  would  say  with  deep  solemnity, 
"  Know  thou  the  God  of  thy  father,  and  serve  him  with  a  per- 
fect heart  and  with  a  willing  mind.  If  thou  seek  him,  he  will 
be  found  of  thee ;  but  if  thou  forsake  him,  he  will  cast  thee  off" 
forever."  I  have  only  to  wish  for  you  and  yours  righteous- 
ness from  the  God  of  your  salvation.     Pray  that  in  your  best 


140  SERMONS  FOR  THE   PRESS. 

enjoyments  here,  and  in  your  final  triumph  through  the  grace 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  may  be  joined,  dear  Sir,  by 
Your  affectionate  friend  and  humble  servant, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Other  memorials  of  the  times  follow  : — 

TO  THE  REV.  J.  M.  MASON. 

London. 

My  Truly  Dear  and  Valuable  Friend  :  The  affectionate 
and  charming  letter  which  you  was  so  kind  to  write  me  the  day 
before  you  left  our  shores,  demands  my  best  acknowledgments. 
It  is  deposited  with  the  choicest  of  my  earthly  treasures.  May 
its  sentiments  be  inscribed  upon  my  heart !  The  reading  of  it 
has  been,  and  frequently  is  to  me  a  source  of  so  much  pleasure 
that  it  has  helped  to  increase  the  pain  and  disappointment  I 
have  felt  at  your  long  silence,  which  I  should  hardly  be  able  to 
reconcile  did  I  not  know  how  much  your  time  must  be  engaged 
upon  objects  so  much  more  deserving  your  attention.  You  will 
I  fear  bear  a  very  decided  testimony  against  me,  when  you 
recollect  that  I  have  not  till  this  time  sent  out  such  memoranda 
as  I  could  procure  of  those  never-to-be-forgotten  sermons  which 
you  preached  in  this  country.  But  after  having  promises  from 
many  persons  to  supply  me,  they  have  all  disappointed  me 
except  the  dear  young  female  friend  at  Walworth.  She  has 
done  her  best  for  you,  and  I  now  send  you  all  I  can  get.  What 
she  has  done  has  been  out  of  pure  affection.  She  would  I 
believe  be  almost  glad  to  be  your  sculling  maid  all  the  week,  so 
that  she  might  sit  under  your  ministry  on  the  Sabbath.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  many  thousands  of  the  sermons  will  be  sold. 
Constant  inquiries  are  made,  but  my  dear  friend  you  must  send 
the  copy  here  to  be  printed  in  this  country.  No  other  plan  will  do. 
I  will  cheerfully  get  them  printed  ;  and  you  must  send  the  copy 
before  they  are  printed  in  America.  Otherwise  the  persons 
here  who  have  been  publishing  your  two  sermons,  and  the 
oration  on  General  Washington's  Death,  will  be  getting  every- 
thing they  can  of  yours  from  America,  and  reprinting  it.  You 
have  no  doubt  seen  '■^ First  Ripe  Fniits"  published  by  Ogle. 
Lest  you  should  not,  I  send  you  one. 


EFFECTS   OF  THE   SCOURGE.  141 

Will  you  be  kind  enough,  my  dear  friend,  to  send  me  over 
by  the  first  opportunity,  one  of  each  of  everything  of  yours 
which  has  been  printed. 

Let  me  entreat  you,  ray  dear  friend,  to  send  us  over  your  ser- 
mons directly,  that  we  may  begin  printing  without  loss  of  time. 
We  will  take  care  to  get  the  head  engraved  to  accompany  them. 
Should  any  thing  unforeseen  (which  we  hope  and  trust  will  not 
be  the  case)  prevent  your  sermons  being  published,  we  must 
request  the  favour  of  you  to  return  us  these  memoranda  of  dear 
Miss  Covell,  as  they  are  valuable  treasures  to  us.  I  used  to 
read  these  sketches  every  Sabbath.  We  heard  no  others  while 
in  Paris,  except  two  or  three  Sabbaths.  Dear  Waugh  and 
Wilks,  and  Mr.  Hardcastle  and  Bogue,  were  there.  We  were 
all  in  the  same  house  together. 

Mrs.  Bowyer  and  Miss  Andras  unite  with  me  in  every  pos- 
sible expression  of  affectionate  regard. 

I  am  ever  yours  most  affectionately, 

R.  BOWYER. 

P.  S.— Bella,  Horrida  Bella! ! ! 

TO  R.  BOWYER,  Esq. 

Newark,  New  Jersey,  Sept.  G,  1803. 

My  Dear  Friend:  Your  kind  letter,  without  date,  was 
handed  to  me  by  Mr.  Bignell  on  the  28th  ult.  He  arrived  at  a 
most  unfortunate  season,  the  city  being  almost  evacuated,  and 
its  business  broken  up,  through  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow 
fever.  But  little  can  be  done  till  the  business  of  the  city  resume 
its  course  and  this  will  not  take  place  sooner  than  eight  or  ten 
weeks.  I  am  afraid  that  our  frequent  scourgings  produce 
only  the  baneful  fruit  of  hardening  us.  In  second  causes 
we  lose  si^it  of  the  hand  which  directs  them.  We  have  not 
returned  unto  God;  and  as  wc  walk  contrary  to  Him,  it  is 
just  that  he  should  walk  contrary  to  us.  Sanctified  judgment 
is  a  blessing  which  we  do  not  seenj  to  have  enjoyed  hitherto. 
It  is  well  for  us  that  there  are  yet  some,  ivho  sigh  and  cry  for 
all  the  abominations  ivhich  are  done  in  the  land.  Except  the  Lord 
of  Sahaoih  had  left  us  a  very  small  remnant,  lue  had  been  as  Sodom, 
we  had  been  made  like  unto  Gomorrah. 


142  ESTIMATE   OF  HIMSELF. 

I  am  sorry  that  my  promised  volume  suffers  so  much  delay. 
You  greedy  folks  about  London  have  occasioned  it.  You  would 
allow  me  neither  leisure  to  breathe  on  the  Sabbath,  nor  leisure 
to  write  in  the  week.  I  did  not  intend  to  have  preached  but  a 
few  times;  and  four  discourses  having  exhausted  my  manu- 
scripts, the  rest  were  not  indeed  unpremeditated,  but  altogether 
unwritten.  As  I  am  the  most  wretched  hand  in  the  world  to 
remember  my  own  thoughts  and  expressions,  though  I  readily 
recognize  them  when  mentioned  by  others,  my  sermons  as 
printed  would  have  borne  but  a  distant  resemblance  to  them  as 
preached,  unless  I  had  some  memoranda  to  serve  me  as  a  clue. 
This  good  office  the  notes  of  Miss  Covell  will  perform  ;  and  I  am 
much  her  debtor  for  the  pains  she  has  taken  on  my  account. 

My  dear  friend,  if  promises  were  not  sacred  I  should  relin- 
quish the  idea  of  publishing.  Your  expectations  are  unreason- 
able, and  will  certainly  be  disappointed.  The  compositions  for 
which  you  are  so  eager  will  not  be  found  the  wonderful  things 
which  your  ardent  imagination  and  strong  partiality  represent 
them.  When  I  was  in  London  I  half  suspected  some  of  you 
of  verging  towards  idolatry,  and  my  suspicions  have  not 
grown  weaker.  Never,  0!  never  forget  that  your  favourite 
ministers  are  frail  and  sinful  creatures,  toiling  under  a  body  of 
depravity  and  death,  and  who  have  much  more  need  of  your 
sympathy  and  prayers  than  of  your  overweening  good  opinion. 
However  if  the  Master  shall  own  any  of  my  endeavours  to  pro- 
mote His  praise,  and  the  peace  of  His  people,  it  is  not  for  me 
out  of  a  principle  of  false  pride,  perhaps,  to  say  nay.  I  will 
transmit  the  manuscript  with  all  possible  speed.  But  you  must 
have  patience.  The  work  is  not  so  easy  as  you  seem  to  sup' 
pose  amidst  a  thousand  avocations.  Besides,  though  I  speak 
with  ease,  I  write  with  pain  ;  and  although  3'ou  may  pronounce 
this  a  paradox,  it  will  not  diminish  my  difficulty.       « 

It  is  a  great  mercy,  my  friend,  that  though  far  asunder  we 
can  keep  up  our  fellowship.  Who  would  have  thought  that  a 
bird's  feather  and  cast-off  rags  would  become  precious  instru- 
ments of  human  intercourse,  and  of  Christian  endearment? 
But  our  Lord  Jesus  had  his  eye  upon  his  pilgrims  Avhen  he 
directed  to  the  invention  of  paper  and  printing.  Most  wonder- 
ful !     I  can  talk  to  a  friend  in  London  when  I  am  at  my  desk 


CHRISTIAN  FELLOWSHIP  AND  HOPE.  143 

in  the  United  States !  The  image  of  my  friend's  soul  leaps  out 
upon  his  paper,  and  travels  three  thousand  miles  unimpaired  to 
greet  my  eye !  This  interchange  of  thought  is  after  all  a  mys- 
tery, let  the  blustering  infidel  and  his  Socinian  brother  say  of 
mysteries  what  they  please.  The  best  of  the  mystery  which 
they  understand  the  least,  is  the  reciprocation  of  gracious 
fellowship  which  sweetens  this  life  and  assures  us  of  a  better. 
Forever  blessed  be  the  great  God  our  Saviour  that  he  has 
pledged  his  truth,  ^' Where  I  am,  there  shall  my  servant  be  also^ 
O,  shall  not  our  bosoms  pant  after  this  translation  ?  We  have 
endless  reasons  from  without,  and  especially  from  within,  to 
long  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  promise,  /  ivill  see  you 
again.  Yes,  my  dear  Sir,  my  poor  tossed,  sin-distracted  heart 
bounds  in  the  prospect.  He  tvill  see  us  again,  and  our  heart  shall 
rejoice,  and  our  joy  no  man,  and  no  devil,  tahethfrom  us.  He  is 
now  our  life.  If  he  were  not  we  should  soon  perish.  And  he 
who  is  our  life  will  appear ;  and  then,  aye,  there  is  the  triumph 
which  a  million  of  worlds  are  too  mean  to  purchase — and  then 
we  shall  he  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  I  do  not 
know,  and  you  do  not  know;  it  maybe  questioned  whether  the 
redeemed  in  heaven,  or  the  angels  of  God  know,  what  is  meant 
by  that  likeness  to  Jesus  which  shall  flow  from  seeing  him  as 
he  is.  The  day  shall  declare  it.  But  it  shall  come ;  yes,  as 
certainly  as  these  blue  heavens  are  stretched  over  our  heads,  it 
shall  come,  and  there  shall  be  gathered  all  the  children  of  the 
kingdom  to  go  no  more  out.  The  hope  is  too  mighty  to  enter 
into  our  hearts  now  but  by  little  and  little ;  it  would  break 
them  were  it  to  flow  in  with  its  glory.  Surely,  this  is  worth  all 
our  self-denial,  and  all  our  anguish.  We  must  walk  hj  faith, 
my  Christian  brother.  We  must  enjoy  by  believing,  and  leave 
explanation  and  sight  to  their  own  season. 

Ever  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

TO  MISS  S.  E.  CO"\^LL. 

Newark,  New  Jkrsey,  September  8th,  1803. 

After  Miss  Covell's  kind  note  of  September  15th,  1802, 
which  was  handed  to  me  by  Mr.  Bignell  a  few  days  ago,  she 
will  excuse  the  liberty  of  a  few  lines  to  thank  her  for  the  obli- 


144  MISS  covell's  notes  of  sermons. 

gation  which  her  goodness  has  imposed  on  me  by  transcribing 
and  transmitting  such  notes  of  my  sermons  as  were  in  her  pos- 
session.    Small  as  this  service  appears  in  her  own  eyes,  it  is  by 
no  means  small  in  mine,  as  it  furnishes  me  with  the  general 
track  of  thought   pursued  in   ray  discourses.     This   was  the 
principal  thing  needed  to  enable  me  to  prepare  them  for  the 
press,  having  never  committed  to  paper  the  slightest  memoran- 
dum  even  of  the  divisions  of  most  of  them.     I  could  hardlj'' 
forbear  smiling  at  her  ingenuity  in  sending  her  boon  by  the 
hand  of  apology^  but  it  was  with  a  different  sensation  that  I  read 
of  her  having  written  the  greater  part  of  the  notes,  "in  much 
agitation  and  distress  of  mind."     The  "severe  illness  of  a  most 
valuable   and  indulgent  mother,"  would  have  rendered  a  re- 
quest for  troublesome  occupation  on  my  account  little  less  than 
cruel,  had  I  been  apprised  of  it;  but  her  condescension  in  such 
circumstances   only    enhances   the  favour.      She  has  not   ac- 
quainted   me  with    the   issue  of  that   afflictive   dispensation. 
Whatever  it   was,  I  am  persuaded  that  she  is  not  unprovided 
with  principles  which  can  convert,  and  have  converted  it  to  a 
gracious  use.     Had  I  never  heard  of  her,  through  the  medium 
of  her  friend  Mrs.  Wood,  her  own  letter  would  have  been  a 
sufficient  voucher  for  my  placing  her  from  this  time  on  the  list 
of  my  Christian  acquaintances.     I  say  acquaintances  ;  for  Chris- 
tianity, my  dear  Miss  Covell,  is  not  encumbered  with  the  dry 
and  distant  ceremonial  of  this  hollow-hearted  world.     Honest 
as  truth,  affectionate  as  charity,  it  is  frank  and  confidential  to- 
ward all  who  bear  the  image  of  our  Lord  Jesus.     They  who 
know  Am,  know  and  love  each  other ;  they  have  sweet  and 
sublime  fellowship;    and  the  reason   why   their  heart-strings 
when  they  are  swayed  by  proper  influences  vibrate  in  the  ex- 
actest  unison,  is,  that  they  are  united  by  faith  to  the  Son  of 
God.     He  "  lives  in  them  ;"'  and  the  stroke  which  thrills  along 
the  nerves  of  even  the  feeblest  member  of  his  body  is  the  pul- 
sation of  his  loving  heart.     This  is  the  secret  cause  of  Christian 
sympathy.      Their   fellowship    with    each   other    flows   from 
"  their  fellowship  ivith  the  Father,  and  icith  his  Son  Jesus  Christy 
This,  too,  puts  the  characteristic  difference  between  the  friend- 
ship of  the  world  and  the  friendship  of  the  church,  between 
the  loves  of  nature  and  the  charities  of  grace.     Nothing  but 


OFFICES   OF   KINDNESS.  145 

that  "  blessed  Gospel"  winch  fools  condemn  and  angels  study, 
can  form  the  idea,  far  less  produce  the  reality  of  a  love  which 
combines  purity  with  ardour;  and  of  which  the  very  ardour 
the  purity ;  which  is  delicate  without  affectation,  and  plain  shields 
without  rudeness;  which  grows  in  respect  as  it  grows  in  fami- 
liarity ;  for  the  more  intimate  Christians  are  as  Christians,  the 
more  do  they  discern  in  each  other  the  likeness  of  that  Saviour 
whom  they  adore;  which  instead  of  impairing,  strengthens  the 
affinities  of  human  life.  May  the  gracious  Eedeemer  keep  you, 
my  dear  Miss  Covell,  in  his  way,  and  in  his  school  till  he  shall 
have  fulfilled  in  you  all  "  the  good  pleasure  of  his  goodness  and 
the  work  of  faith  with  power."  A  life  near  to  Jesus  is  the 
only  life  worth  living  in  this  world,  or  the  next.  May  you 
enjoy  much  of  this  blessed  life!  and  never  forget  that  it  is  in- 
timately connected  with  clear  views  of  the  doctrines  of  grace. 
The  heart  must  feed  upon  the  fruits  of  a  sanctified  understand- 
ing.    Grace  be  with  you ! 

Yours  in  the  best  bonds, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Private  charity  united  with  his  public  spirit.  This  frequently 
took  the  form  of  an  agency  for  transmitting  benefactions  from 
Britain  to  obscure  friends  in  this  country.  An  instance  appears 
in  the  subjoined  letter: — 

MK.  M.  TO  A.  SIMPSON,  Esq. 

Newark,  New  Jersey,  Sept.  3rd,  1803. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  am  ashamed  that  your  letter  of  the  31st 
August,  1802,  was  not  acknowledged  in  due  season.  It  had 
accidentally  fallen  by,  and  was  not  recovered  till  lately.  You 
doubtless  know  that  I  drew  upon  Messrs.  Down,  Thornton  & 
Co.  for  the  £50  deposited  with  them  in  my  name  to  the  use  of 
Mrs.  Ann  C,  of  Schenectady.  Bills  upon  London  being  two 
per  cent  above  par,  I  sold  my  draught  for  £51  sterling, 
or  $266  %.  The  money  was  remitted  to  Mrs.  C,  and  I 
have  her  receipt  under  date  of  November  6th,  1802.  The 
result  of  my  inquiries  is,  that  she  bears  an  unblemished 
character,  and  is  respected  by  the  most  respectable  inhabi- 
tants of  Schenectady.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  for  some 
months  previous  to  the  supply  sent  by  her  brother-in-law, 
10 


146  EFFECTS  OF  THE  YELLOW  FEVER. 

she  had  been  supported  by  the  bounty  of  strangers.  My  friend 
who  carried  her  the  money,  wrote  me  that  she  was  exceed- 
ingly affected  and  grateful.  Whether  she  means  to  remain  in 
America  or  not,  I  have  not  heard ;  but  suppose  that  she  will 
need  assistance  from  time  to  time.  Between  New  York  and 
Schenectady,  which  is  about  170  miles  north  of  the  city,  there 
is  easy  and  frequent  intercourse.  I  can  at  all  times  forward 
anything.     It  will  give  me  much  pleasure  and  no  trouble. 

Will  you  do  me  the  favour  to  present  my  respectful  thanks 
to  Mr.  Cunningham,  for  his  liberal  donation  to  our  Seminary  ? 
I  hope  that  neither  he  nor  any  of  our  British  benefactors  will 
have  cause  to  lament  their  geuerosity.  But  they  are  too  well 
acquainted  with  human  nature  and  human  affairs  to  expect 
that  such  a  design  as  ours  can  be  carried  into  effect  without 
labour  and  patience,  when  it  must  depend  for  habitual  support 
upon  contributions  from  plain  people,  to  whom  it  is  a  novelty, 
and  who  are  not  well  qualified  to  estimate  its  importance  by 
any  other  criterion  than  its  effects.  The  library,  to  which  almost 
the  whole  of  what  I  collected  in  Britain  was  appropriated,  is 
both  an  occasion  and  a  pledge  of  future  exertion.  Of  my 
personal  efforts,  neither  its  friends  nor  enemies,  if  any,  will  enter- 
tain much  doubt.  The  proposal  for  both  the  seminary  and  the 
means  of  procuring  an  adequate  revenue,  originated  not  long 
ago,  with  myself;  and  the  progress  of  the  plan  has  been  greater 
than  either  the  timid  or  the  sanguine  expected.  We  must  now 
sow  in  hope :  in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not. 

The  inestimable  blessing  which  America  enjoys  in  being  at 
peace,  while  war  has  kindled  fresh  flames  in  Europe,  is  not 
without  alloy.  The  hand  of  God  is  again  upon  us,  by  sending 
the  Destroyer  to  the  city  of  New  York.  At  a  period  earlier 
than  usual,  the  dreaded  yellow  fever  has  renewed  its  visit,  and 
thousands  of  the  inhabitants  have  left  their  dwellings.  One- 
half  of  the  whole  population,  which  is  rated  at  about  sixty-five 
thousand,  has  deserted  the  place.  The  neighbouring  parts  of 
the  island,  with  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  adjacent  countr}-, 
are  filled  with  fugitives.  The  effect  upon  the  trade  of  our  port 
you  may  easily  imagine.  Would  to  God  that  the  effect  upon 
our  thoughtless  citizens,  in  persuading  them  to  consider  their 
ways,  bore  any  proportion  to  its  tcmponil  influence!     I  fear 


DEATH  OF  DR.   H.   HUNTER.  147 

that  the  accusation  will  continue  to  lie  at  our  door,  ^^  I  have  sent 
among  you  the  pestilence  after  the  manner  of  Egypt^  yet  have  ye  not 
returned  unto  me,  saitli  the  Lord^  Past  experience  affords  but 
melancholy  reflection,  and  verifies  Solomon's  adage,  in  its 
application  to  communities  as  well  as  individuals:  Though 
thou  bray  a  fool  in  a  mortar  with  a  pestle,  yet  will  not  his  folly 
depart  from  him.  Happy  they  who,  in  the  hour  of  calamity, 
have  a  refuge  in  the  God  of  their  salvation. 


The  subject  of  the  following  two  letters  will  not  be  confounded 
with  Dr.  A.  Hunter,  the  Professor  of  Edinburgh.  Dr.  Henry 
Hunter,  of  London,  author  of  "  Sacred  Biography,"  and  other 
learned  works,  received  Mr.  Mason  into  his  cordial  friendship, 
and  in  various  ways  gave  him  warm  support  in  his  efforts  for 
the  seminary.  His  death  was  mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Hardcastle,  as  well  as  in  the  one  here  referred  to.  Mr.  Mason's 
sympathy  found  utterance  in  letters  to  surviving  friends : 

TO  MRS.  DR.  HUNTER,  LONDON. 

Newark,  New  Jersey,  Sept.  7th,  1803. 
I  LITTLE  thought,  my  dear  Madam,  when  last  I  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  you  in  London,  that  the  revolution  of  a  short 
period  would  cast  so  thick  a  shade  over  your  comforts.  The 
news  of  your  bereavement  reached  me  some  time  before  I  was 
compelled  to  admit  it  as  a  fact.  Amidst  the  sympathy  and 
condolence  of  numerous  and  attentive  friends,  my  voice  would 
have  been  feeble ;  and  if  it  comes  later  than  that  of  others,  it 
comes,  nevertheless,  from  a  heart  which  will  retain  among 
its  last  recollections  the  great  and  unwearied  kindnesses  of 
your  hospitable  house.  We  must  be  made  to  feel,  my  dear 
friend,  what  we  are  accustomed  to  acknowledge  before  the 
throne  of  our  God  and  Father,  that  we  arc  children  of  grief, 
because  children  of  transgression.  Ah,  how  deeply  in  our 
bosoms  is  engraven  the  admonition,  that  we  are  "born  to  sor- 
row as  the  sparks  fly  upward!"  And  how  wretched  would  be 
our  condition  under  the  chastenings  of  God,  if  we  had  not  His 
gospel  to  brighten  our  prospects,  and  His  love  to  soothe  our 
spirits !     Blessed  be  His  name.  He  has  taught  us  a  secret  which 


148  SOURCES   OF  CONSOLATION. 

the  sons  and  daughters  of  earth  can  neither  find  out  nor  com- 
prehend— the  secret  of  "glorying  in  tribuLation."     It  is  in  the 
hour  of  anguish  that  the  christian  lifts  up  his  head.     It  is  in  the 
failure  of  earthly  delights,  and  earthly  supports,  that  he  may 
taste  the  sweetness  of  new  covenant  mercy,  and  feel  the  strength 
of  the  Rock  of  Ages.      Here  is  the  preeminence  of  believers 
in  Jesus :  their  religion  is  at  hand  when  they  need  its  consola- 
tions.    "He  who  hath  smitten,  will  heal:  he  who  hath  torn, 
will  bind  up."     You  know  this,  my  dear  madam ;  your  refuge 
is  not  now  to  seek;  you  "know  whom  you  have  believed;" 
and  how  rich  is  the  privilege  of  laying  your  aching  head  upon 
the  bosom  of  your  Saviour !     Half  his  tenderness  and  truth — 
half  his  grace  and  condescension,  could  not  be  estimated,  if  we 
were  never  to  "  walk  in  trouble."     It  is  a  thought — it  is  an  as- 
surance for  which  the  universe  cannot  afford  an  exchange,  that 
our  glorious  high  Priest  has  a  '■^Jellow-feeling  with  our  wjirmity.'''' 
Yes,  the  Son  of  God  has  learned  hy  experience  to  sympathise 
with  his  people.     "  Seeing  that  he  hath  suffered,  being  tempted, 
he  is  able  to  succour  those  that  ai-c  temptedy     Amidst  the  hosan- 
nahs  of  heaven,  he  does  not  forget  that  he  was  once  a  "  man 
of  sorrow,  and  acquainted  with  grief."     Amidst  the  worship  of 
angels,  his  eye  is  upon  the  tears  of  his  afflicted  followers;  and 
he  has  a  thousand  blessings  to  compensate  the  sacrifices  which 
they  are  called  to  make.     But  this,  though   wonderful,  and 
though  a  source  of  ceaseless  gratitude,  is  not  all.     He  has  not 
so  much  threatened^  as  promised  the  rod.     It  is  in  his  own  hand, 
and  it  is  plucked  from  the  tree  of  life.     It  is  an  expression  of 
his  regard  ;  for  "  whom  the  Lord  loveth,  he  chasteneth."     AVe 
could  not  live  without  his  discipline.     The  design  and  the  fruit 
of  it  is,  that  we  shall  "  be  partakers  of  His  holiness."     He  has 
not  engaged  that  our  cup  shall  contain  no  hiitcrness  ;  but  he  has 
pledged,  that  it  shall  contain  no  p)oison.     There  is  no  death  in 
it.     He  puts  not  into  our  hand  a  cup  which  he  himself  has  not 
tasted.     And  we  may  assure  ourselves,  that  while  he  corrects, 
he  cannot  curse;  for  "there  is  no  condemnation  to  them  who 
are  in  Christ  Jesus."     All  this  is  added  to  that  unspeakable 
mercy,  that  you  do  not  "moni-n  as  one  that  hath  no  hope." 
Oh,  let  this  persuasion  turn  the  note  of  complaint  into  a  song  of 
joy.     Our  work  is  to  be  "  followers  of  them,  who,  through  faith 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF   ENGLAND.  149 

and  patience,  inherit  the  promises."  Yet  a  little  while,  dear 
Madam,  and  your  present  path  through  "the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,"  shall  terminate  in  light  and  life  that  shall 
never  end.  We  must,  indeed,  die;  but  Jesus  went  through 
death  into  his  kingdom.  We,  too,  must  pass  through  death,^, 
not  merely  that  we  may  perform  the  last  act  of  conformity  to 
Him  on  this  side  of  heaven,  but  that  we  may  evince  the  power 
of  His  grace,  which  can  make  a  dying  worm  more  than  con- 
queror over  all  the  hosts  of  hell.  Then  the  "  God  of  peace  shall 
bruise  Satan  under  our  feet,"  once  for  all ;  and  his  bruised  head 
shall  be  in  the  place  of  a  stepping-stone,  from  which  our  victo- 
rious feet  shall  step  upon  the  threshold  of  our  Father's  house  ! 
And  He,  who  is  "  the  Eesurrection  and  the  Life,"  shall,  in  due 
season,  "  change  our  vile  body,  and  fashion  it  like  unto  His  own 
glorious  body."  In  the  mean  time,  "thy  Maker  is  thy  husband  ; 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his  name."  He  will  "  put  your  tears  into 
His  bottle ;"  He  will  "  record  them  in  His  book."  I  commend 
you  to  the  "  husband  of  the  widow,"  praying  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  His  promise  to  you,  "  Even  to  old  age  I  am  He, 
and  even  to  hoar  hairs  I  will  carry  thee." 

Give  my  affectionate  regard  to  Miss  Hunter,  and  William.     I 
am  sure  their  filial  love  will  cherish  and  cheer  3^ou. 
Yours  most  sincerely, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

ME.  M.  TO  ROBERT  SPEAR,  Esq.,  MANCHESTER. 

Newark,  New  Jersey,  Sept.  10,  1803. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  My  omission  to  acknowledge  my  obliga- 
tion for  your  very  kind  attentions  at  Manchester,  I  place  on  the 
worst  ground  for  myself,  that  I  may  leave  to  you  nothing  but 
the  pleasure  of  forgiving.  I  cannot  tell  how  it  has  happened, 
but  such  is  the  fact,  that  I  have  been  the  greatest  delinquent 
towards  friends  who  lie  nearest  my  heart.  I  know  that  they 
are  not  inclined  to  censure  or  suspension ;  and  as  those  who 
murmur  least  must  expect  to  bear  the  most,  I  have  presumed 
on  their  goodness  while  I  have  discharged  where  I  would  use 
fewer  liberties.  Thus  friendship  has  been  waiting  at  the  door, 
if  not  of  ceremony,  at  least  of  exaction. 

I  often  pass  in  review   the  scenes  of  London,  Manchester, 


150  PRACTICAL  DIFFICULTIES. 

Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  &c.,  which  are  all  endeared  to  me,  for 
reasons  never  to  be  forgotten.  Although  there  is  no  ground 
on  which  I  can  feed  myself  with  the  prospect  of  another  voyage 
to  Britain,  yet  I  cannot  endure  tlie  thought  of  perpetual  sepa- 
jration  even  in  this  world  from  those  with  whom  I  have  been 
permitted  to  "  take  sweet  counsel  together."  Christianity  im- 
parts a  zest  even  to  temporal  comforts,  and  stamps  upon  the 
society  which  it  influences,  a  dignity  and  value  which  nothing 
else  can  replace.  Venerable  John  Eyland  was  right  in  calling 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  frolic  and  dissipation  mere  "  fools 
in  the  science  of  pleasure."  I  have  frequently  thought  and 
said,  that  the  Gospel  is  necessary  to  teach  men  how  to  enjoy  this 
world.  And  for  the  next,  to  which  we  are  hastening,  who  can 
compare  with  Christians?  It  is  there,  my  dear  Sir,  that  we 
triumph ;  there  that  our  faith  has  the  victory.  It  is  in  that 
better  world,  in  that  heavenly  kingdom,  in  the  vision  and  like- 
ness of  our  Eedeemer,  that  every  principle  worth  cultivating 
will  display  its  beauty  and  its  power.  May  it  be  our  happiness 
to  walk  through  this  vale  of  tears  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord 
God ;  in  the  purifying  communion  of  his  love ;  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  that  hope  which  "  maketh  not  ashamed."  Toward  the 
spread  of  these  blessings  I  trust  our  seminary  will  be  instru- 
mental. A  flying  rumour  has  informed  me  that  the  bounty 
of  Manchester  has  been  extended  to  it.  If  so,  I  beg  leave,  in 
behalf  of  all  concerned,  to  return  thanks,  first  to  Him  who  gave 
our  benefactors  the  means  and  the  heart,  and  then  to  the  bene- 
factors themselves,  who  "  have  dispersed,"  who  "  have  given 
to  the  poor,"  praying  that  their  "righteousness  may  endure 
forever."  Messrs.  Down,  Thornton  and  Co.  are  the  depositaries 
of  contributions. 


Practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  obtaining  ministers  from 
Scotland  still  remained.  The  nature  of  these  is  apparent  from 
subsequent  correspondence.  Unlooked  for,  and  in  some  cases 
perhaps,  reckless  expenses  were  incurred  in  bringing  over  min- 
isters. Nor  were  these  ministers  themselves  alwaj'S  of  a  class 
to  promise  much  usefulness  in  this  country.  But  let  the  letters 
speak  for  themselves : — 


UNUSUAL   PRESS   OF  DUTIES.  151 


MR.  M.  TO  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  KIDSTON. 

New  York,  Nov.  27,  1803. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  The  dissatisfaction  of  friends  on  account  of 
my  silence  I  had  anticipated,  not  without  uneasiness,  because, 
on  the  one  hand,  it  was  impossible  to  escape  their  censure,  and 
on  the  other  I  found  it  equally  impossible  to  gratify  their  reason- 
able expectations.  Apologies  seldom  succeed ;  and  in  the  art 
of  making  them,  I  have  always  been  a  bungler.  But  I  tell 
you  the  truth,  that  for  a  considerable  time  after  my  return,  I 
had  not  leisure  to  write  to  anybody — a  few  lines  to  my  uncle 
excepted.  More,  much  more  of  the  public  business  of  the 
churches  than  I  can  execute  without  omissions,  which  are  sure 
to  raise  clamours  against  me  at  home,  is  devolved  upon  me", 
and  this,  added  to  domestic,  congregational  and  incidental  avo- 
cations, occupied  me  almost  to  distraction.  I  have  not  been 
able  to  read  a  single  volume  since  I  came  back  from  Britain, 
though  it  is  now  more  than  thirteen  months  !  Besides,  I  had 
not  a  small  correspondence  before  ;  and  my  visit  to  your  hospi- 
table land  has  increased  it  so  much,  that  it  amounts  to  a  very 
serious  affair  to  one  who  has  the  charge  of  two  congregations, 
and  who  frequently  is  not  permitted  to  enjoy  his  study  one 
hour  in  a  week.  In  short,  I  am  obliged  to  take  my  correspon- 
dents in  sets;  and  though  I  was  deceived  in  the  hope  that  my 
intercourse  with  my  Glasgow  friends  had  left  an  impression 
which  would  have  screened  me  from  the  charge  of  atrocious 
neglect,  yet  they  will  perhaps  be  a  little  pacified  when  they 
are  told  that  it  is  only  of  late  that  I  have  attempted  to  dis- 
charge my  epistolary  devoirs.  With  Edinburgh,  it  was  natural 
to  begin.  From  London,  a  package  fraught  with  kindness,  and 
spiced  with  scolding,  required  prompt  attention.  And  tertio,  I 
turn  to  your  honours  of  Glasgow.  The  best  way,  I  believe,  is, 
as  you  advise,  to  be  a  letter  bairn  in  future^  and^as  you  talk  about 
a  "  circular,"  I  do,  by  these  presents,  what  I  think  far  prefer- 
able, constitute  and  appoint  you  to  be  my  advocate-general  in 
and  for  the  good  city  of  Glasgow,  and  its  dependencies,  and  all 
other  places  where  your  prudence  shall  think  fit  to  exercise 
this  your  office.  If  nothing  else  will  do,  I  put  my  friends  upon 
their  devotions  to  cherub-faced  charity. 


152  DISPOSITION   OF  THE   SUPPLIES. 

The  brethren  who  came  with  me  are  dispersed  in  every  di- 
rection. Mr.  Laurie  is  settled  down  in  the  City  of  Washington, 
where  he  preaches  with  acceptance.  Mr.  Scrimgeour  is  at  the 
town  of  Newburgh,  seventy  miles  north  of  this  place,  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Hudson  Eiver.  Mr.  Calderhead  has  ac- 
cepted a  call  somewhere  beyond  the  Alleghany  mountains,  in 
Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Easton  is,  as  I  have  heard,  about  being 
placed  at  Broadalbane,*  some  forty  miles  north  west  from 
Albany.  Mr.  Bishop  is  going  on  with  great  spirit  in  Kentucky. 
Mr.  Forest  has  been  to  Canada ;  and,  it  is  rumoured,  means  to 
go  home  again.  I  know  not  whether  the  report  be  well  founded. 
Mr.  Burns,  who  lately  arrived,  is  at  present  in  New  York, 
where  his  labours  are  far  from  being  disesteemed.  We  are  still 
most  distressed  for  want  of  help.  Had  not  Mr.  Burns  appeared, 
the  second  congregation  in  this  city  would  have  been  unsup- 
plied  almost  a  twelvemonth.  The  cry  for  more,  more,  is  reiter- 
ated from  the  brethren  who  first  ventured  to  give  us  a  helping 
hand.  I  cannot,  however,  conceal  a  difficulty  of  which  your 
discretion  will  make  a  proper  use.  It  is  altogether  right  that 
they  who  come  out  at  our  invitation  should  come  out  at  our 
expense.  No  objection  has  ever  been  offered  to  this.  But  the 
infant  funds  of  our  Synod  have  been  drained  by  repeated 
heavy  demands  to  their  last  shilling.  The  circumstance  of 
most  of  the  preachers  bringing  wives  with  them,  though  un- 
questionably fair,  has  doubled  the  cost  of  their  voyage.  For 
those  who  may  follow,  it  will  be  necessary  that  their  passage 
money  be  advanced  on  your  side  of  the  water.  It  will  be  re- 
paid by  our  churches,  but  our  finances  must  have  time  to  re- 
cruit. Cannot  an  arrangement  be  made  on  this  subject  with 
Messrs.  McGoun  of  Greenock  ?  They  may  perhaps  allow  the 
passage  money  to  remain  unpaid  till  we  are  able  to  meet  it. 
Or  would  not  some  of  our  more  opulent  friends  in  Glasgow 
loan  as  much  as  may  be  requisite  for  a  certain  period  ?  I  pray 
this  matter  may  be  managed  with  so  much  delicacy  as  not  to 
hinder  preachers  from  coming,  if  possible.  Were  it  not  for 
peculiar  reasons,  I  would  undertake  to  obtain  what  I  now  ask, 
from  my  own  people.  But  besides  the  ruinous  derangement  of 
our  commerce  by  the  yellow  fever,  and  other  local  cmbarrass- 

'^  He  was  finally  aettled  at  Monlreal,  Canada. 


WANT  OF   MINISTERS  CONTINUES.  153 

ments  at  present,  tliey  are  in  fact  the  payyaaster- general  of  our 
churches  in  other  things.  Consult  well,  I  beseech  you.  With- 
out some  temporary  provision  of  this  kind,  by  you  or  ourselves, 
I  am  in  danger,  from  my  personal  agency,  of  being  involved 
to  an  extent  far  beyond  my  pecuniary  resources,  ahd  fatal  to 
my  own,  and  my  family's  comfort.  You  cannot  misunderstand 
me  ;  and  I  commit  myself  to  your  prudence,  and  that  of  a  few 
others. 


MR.  M.  TO  REV.  JOHN  DICK,  D.D.,  GLASGOW. 

>  New  York,  Dec.  1,  1803. 

You  are  too  little  a  man  of  ceremony,  my  dear  Sir,  to  exact 
punctilious  explanations  of  ill-looking  appearances,  when  you 
have  a  favourable  expositor  in  your  own  bosom ;  and  thus  far 
I  am  too  much  like  }- ou  to  make  them,  when  I  know  that  well 
informed  candour  would  forbear  the  stile  of  censure. 

Notices  have  doubtless  been  sent  from  the  brethren  who 
sailed  with  me  both  of  their  reception  and  of  their  impressions. 
Of  the  latter,  they  are  the  best  judges  and  reporters ;  and  if  the 
former  was  not  agreeable,  the  failure  did  not  flow  from  the 
want  of  attempts  to  render  it  so.  The  cry  for  help  is  as  loud 
and  unceasing  as  ever.  Wide  scope  for  exertion  and  success  is 
open  for  those  who  are  not  afraid  of  the  cross ;  and  for  those 
who  are,  the  Son  of  God  has  provided  no  employment  in  his 
gospel.  The  slender  assistance  of  six  ministers,  now  scattered 
abroad  upon  the  foce  of  the  land,  has  proved  of  material  service. 
Double  that  number  could  be  at  no  loss  for  scenes  of  labour 
and  usefulness.  It  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  that  centers, 
from  which  sound  principles  and  vigorous  order  may  be  dif- 
fused should  be  fixed,  as  speedily  and  with  as  much  advantage 
of  cooperation  as  possible.  It  is  vain  and  foolish  to  place  down 
ministers  at  an  immense  distance  from  each  other,  when  thete  are 
unsettled  and  unsupplied  vacancies  near  at  hand,  and  indispen- 
sable to  the  common  strength.  It  has  been  for  some  time  my 
sober  iudgment  that  we  are  in  dancer  of  running  into  this  ex. 
treme ;  and  that  by  insulating  men  and  congregations,  to 
convert  both  by  degrees  into  practical  independence.  And 
therefore  we  require  considerable  aids,  that  the  state  of  society 


154  REASONS  FOR  THE   SEMINARY. 

may  not  force  us  into  a  violation  of  our  first  principle ;  and 
that  in  order  to  maintain  it,  we  may  not  lose  opportunities  to 
plant  Presbyterian  posts  in  important  spots.  In  the  way  of 
obtaining  adequate  assistance,  even  if  j^our  preachers  are  in- 
clined to  come  over,  there  is  an  embarrassment,  and  that  a 
serious  one,  arising  from  the  lack  of  proper  funds.  You  will 
immediately  perceive,  when  thinking  on  this  article,  that  it  is 
desirable  to  have  as  many  of  those  who  come  hither  as  possi" 
ble,  sinrjle  men.  Not,  by  any  means  however,  as  if  we  would 
repudiate  an  able  man  to  save  the  expenses  of  his  wife!  How* 
ever,  as  "  there  is  reason  in  roasting  oysters,"  I  hope  no  offence 
can  be  taken  from  the  suggestion,  thatVhen  double  or  triple 
expenses  are  incurred  on  account  of  a  man's  family,  there 
ought  to  be  something  in  himself  to  reconcile,  or  rather  to  con- 
tent all  parties,  on  striking  the  balance.  This  inter  nos.  You 
cannot  make  an  indiscreet  use  of  it. 

Our  Seminary,  on  which  we  are  intently  set,  and  which  is 
retarded  by  the  incessant  draughts  on  our  little  treasury,  must 
be,  under  the  Lord's  blessing,  our  chief  reliance.  An  ignorant, 
unqualified  ministry  is  becoming  every  day  more  numerous, 
and  less  respectable.  The  thought  of  christian  interests  devolv- 
ing into  their  hands,  fills  one  with  alarm  and  horror.  At  the 
same  time,  by  reducing  the  standard  of  ministerial  character,  it 
encourages  the  obtrusive  and  fanatical  pretences  of  lay  preachers. 
I  view  this,  however  the  opinion  may  be  reprobated  by  serious 
but  unreflecting  people,  as  one  of  the  most  artful  cards  which 
the  devil  ever  played  to  destroy  Christianity  altogether.  Let 
men  once  be  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  has  left  no  other 
commission  to  preach  than  that  which  every  one  finds  in  his  own 
knowledge,  piety  and  zeal,  (of  which  he  is  to  judge),  and  there 
is  an  end  of  all  authoritative  measures ;  and  what  kind  of  a 
community  that  must  be,  in  which  the  government  or  officers 
have  no  authority,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  dispute.  I  do  not 
see  how  this  blow  can  be  warded  off  without  a  miracle,  unless 
there  be  so  great  a  difference  and  such  priority  on  the  side  of 
lawful  ministers,  as  to  put  the  usurpers  out  of  countenance  and 
out  of  credit.  Two  or  three  self-sent  jocties  from  England, 
have  tried  their  hand  among  us ;  but  we  are  not  Englishmen, 
and  they  have  not  hitherto  received  the  support  which  they 
expected. 


LETTERS   MUCH   VALUED.  155 

The  memoir  which  I  was  to  transmit  concerning  my  deceased 
black  friend  Piero,  I  have  not  been  able  to  prepare.  I  am 
almost  crushed  with  the  load  of  business  which  is  laid  upon  my 
shoulders. 


In  a  letter  of  1805,  he  writes:  "It  is  impossible  for  us  to  be 
bound  for  the  passage  of  every  man  who  chooses  to  emigrate, 
when  we  have  no  agent  to  judge  whether  we  are  likely  to  be 
the  better  for  his  presence.  Our  General  Synod  have  been 
obliged  to  pass  a  resolution  declining  all  future  responsibility 
for  passages  for  which  they  shall  not  previously  contract.  The 
measure  was  absolutely  necessary  in  self  defence.  Our  little 
funds  have  been  so  drained  by  claims  of  this  sort,  as  to  endanger 
the  existence  of  our  Seminary.  And  as  there  are  always  two 
at  making  a  bargain,  we  should  like  to  have  our  word  in  decid- 
ing on  the  quality  of  the  goods.  By  the  present  mode,  this  is' 
not  likely  to  improve." 


The  following  letter  from  one  of  the  best  of  men,  whose 
name  has  already  appeared,  and  must  frequently  again  appear 
in  these  pages,  and  whose  memory  will  be  blessed  by  the 
future  millions  of  China,  containing  many  things  of  interest  to 
the  philanthropist  and  Christian,  as  well  as  to  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Mason,  cannot  be  denied  a  place  here : — 

MR.  M.  TO  J.  HARDCASTLE. 

London,  February,  1804. 

Rev.  axd  Dear  Sir:  We  have  now  the  satisfaction  of  ac- 
knowledging the  receipt  of  your  letter  under  date  of  1st 
Aug.  and  1st  Sept.  We  had  been  very  long  indulging  the 
hope  of  hearing  from  you,  and  the  strong  impression  which 
you  have  made  on  our  affections,  and  which  I  believe  is  indelible, 
made  your  long  silence  a  considerable  trial  to  our  patience.  At 
last,  however,  the  most  welcome  epistle  hath  reached  us;  and 
I  can  assure  you,  that  its  length,  its  interesting  matter,  and  its 
affectionate  spirit,  form  the  most  acceptable  compensation 
which  we  can  j)ossibly  receive  for  its  delay.  It  confirms,  how- 
ever, the  strong  desire  we  have  to  hear  from  you  as  frequently 
as  may  consist,  with  your  convenience.     We  claim  this  from 


156  MERCY  AMIDST  JUDGMENTS. 

the  sympathy  which  is  due  to  that  ardent  and  undirainishing 
affection  which  we  bear  towards  you.  In  my  family,  you  are 
frequently  the  topic  of  our  evening  conversation.  We  oft- 
times  resort  to  those  few  printed  sermons  of  yours  which  we 
possess,  to  enlarge  our  acquaintance  with  those  interesting  sub- 
jects which  are  connected  with  our  redemption,  or  to  elevate 
our  affections  to  the  region  of  unsullied  purity,  the  residence 
of  perfect  spirits.  We  recall  also  to  our  recollection  the  plea- 
sant interviews  which  we  occasionally  had  together,  but  find 
the  satisfaction  mingled  with  regret  that  they  were  not  more 
frequent,  and  that  their  early  renewal  is  such  an  improbable 
event.  These  are  feelings,  however,  which  form  a  part  of  the 
imperfections  of  our  present  state,  and  are  a  branch  also  of  its 
needful  discipline.  They  force  upon  us  an  attention  to  the 
great  object  of  a  christian's  life,  the  performance  of  duty,  and 
lead  us  to  wait  for  its  future  retribution.  In  the  mean  time  it 
is  innocent  and  useful  gratification,  which  epistolary  intercourse 
affords  Christian  friends  who  are  placed  in  distant  parts  of  the 
earth,  to  accomplish  in  their  respective  spheres  the  designs  of 
Providence,  till  they  shall  associate  in  the  general  assembly  of 
those  who  never  transgress,  and  whose  robes  are  washed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb. 

I  should  have  been  much  gratified  if  the  contribution  of  our 
English  brethren  had  been  larger.  Had  it  been  possible  for 
you  to  protract  your  visit,  I  cannot  doubt  but  this  would  have 
been  the  case.  The  object  to  which  it  is  consecrated  is  of  high 
import,  and  of  its  progress  from  time  to  time  we  shall  be  happy 
to  hear.  In  the  mean  time,  we  shall  offer  our  intercessions  for 
the  Divine  blessing,  and  mingle  therewith  our  thanksgivings 
for  the  extensive  grace  manifested  in  various  ways  towards  the 
American  churches,  the  reports  of  which  gladden  our  hearts, 
awaken  our  gratitude,  and  stimulate  our  languishing  zeal. 

Blessed  be  our  covenant  God,  who,  in  the  midst  of  darkness, 
dismay,  calamity,  and  I  must  add,  profligacy,  still  cheers  our 
hearts  by  the  demonstrations  of  his  goodness  and  the  outpour- 
ings of  his  spirit  in  various  parts,  and  encourages  the  hope  that 
brighter  scenes  arc  in  preparation,  and  that  an  era  of  distin- 
guished grace  will  rise  out  of  the  confusion  which  the  wicked- 
ness of  man  seems  likely  to  produce  among  the  nations  of  the 


MISSIONARY  SUCCESSES.  157 

earth.  We  have  lately  received  very  exhilarating  accounts 
from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  labours  of  our  missionaries 
among  the  poor  degraded  Hottentots  and  Boschemen  have  been 
wonderfully  sanctioned  by  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Mr.  Kicherer,  whose  station  was  at  Tak  river,  about  500  miles 
from  Cape  Town,  has  lately  visited  us,  accompanied  by  three 
conveTted  Hottentots,  fruits  of  his  ministry  and  members  of 
his  church.  Their  gifts  and  grace  are  so  great  as  to  furnish  a 
remarkable  demonstration  of  the  rapidity  with  which  a  poor, 
ignorant,  and  brutalized  sinner,  may  become  wise  and  holy, 
when  the  Spirit  becomes  his  instructor.  Perhaps  the  churches 
in  London  have  never  received  a  purer  and  higher  gratifica- 
tion, than  by  the  visit  of  these  strangers.  Their  replies  to  the 
questions  proposed  to  them,  and  their  addresses  to  the  immense 
congregations  before  whom  they  appeared,  were  not  merely 
satisfactory  in  a  high  degree,  but  excited  universal  surprise,  and 
occasioned,  I  believe,  much  thanksgiving  to  God.  Mr.  Kich- 
erer left  with  us  the  narrative  of  his  mission,  which  we  have 
printed,  a  few  copies  of  \^hich  I  will  forward  you  for  distribu- 
tion. I  am  persuaded  you  will  read  it  with  much  satisfaction. 
This  event  was  the  more  welcome,  as  we  had  received  few  let- 
ters from  the  brother  while  in  Africa,  and  had  not  anticipated 
the  success  with  which  God  has  crowned  his  labours.  He  is  a 
man  of  singular  endowments,  uncommonly  devoted  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  Great  Master,  and  partaking  largely  of  his  meek  and 
humble  spirit.  They  are  all  now  in  Holland,  waiting  and  long- 
ing for  the  means  of  convej^ance  to  their  beloved  brethren,  in 
the  desert,  where  their  station  is,  and  I  suppose  they  more  fre- 
quently see  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest,  than  the  face  of  a  civ- 
ilized human  being.  They  will  be  accompanied  by  five  addi- 
tional missionaries,  who  are  natives  either  of  Holland  or  Ger- 
many, and  who  are  engaged  by  our  Society  to  strengthen  and 
enlarge  the  good  work  in  that  colony. 

It  is  now  a  long  time  since  we  received  anj^  letters  or  jour- 
nals from  Dr.  Vander  Kemp,  but  we  understand  that  the 
Society  in  Holland  have  received  some  intelligence  concerning 
him  which  is  highly  satisfactory,  both  as  to  the  state  of  his 
health,  which  had  been  much  impaired,  and  as  to  liis  success 
among  the  Hottentots.     We  hope   therefore  to  have  an  early 


158  CRITICAL   STATE   OF  ENGLAND. 

opportunity  of  laying  before  the  religious  public  some  interest- 
ing particulars  concerning  him. 

We  are  now  on  the  point  of  sending  out  six  other  missiona- 
ries. Three  of  them  are  intended  for  Ceylon  and  take  with  them 
a  letter  of  introduction  from  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the 
Governor  of  that  place.  The  rest  are  going  to  India,  with  the 
view  to  settle  in  the  Mysore-  country,  where,  it  appears,  .many 
of  the  natives  are  disgusted  with  idolatry,  and  are  panting  for 
Christian  instruction.  Mr.  Gericke,  the  Danish  missionary, 
said  to  be  a  man  of  similar  spirit  with  the  late  Mr.  Swartz,  has 
lately  visited  that  country  as  a  missionary,  and  reports  that 
whole  villages  are  throwing  away  their  idols  and  are  prepared 
to  receive  the  ministers  of  Christ.  This,  if  really  a  foot,  is  cer- 
tainly an  extraordinary  one ;  and,  when  combined  with  many 
others,  perhaps  justifies  tlie  expectation,  that  the  century  upon 
which  we  have  just  entered  may  be  distinguished  by  great  im- 
provements in  the  moral  condition  of  the  world,  as  well  as  by 
great  alterations  in  its  political  state. 

No  doubt  our  Christian  friends  in  America  feel  considerable 
anxiety  at  this  critical  period  for  the  fate  of  England.  Indeed, 
all  the  nations  of  Europe  seem  waiting  in  awful  suspense  the 
result  of  the  approaching  conflict  with  France,  as  if  all  the 
great  interests  of  civilized  society  were  involved  therein  ;  and 
I  believe  we  partake  of  the  good  wishes  of  the  majority  in 
every  country,  and  have  an  interest  in  the  prayers  of  our 
Christian  brethren  throughout  the  world.  It  is  understood  that 
the  preparations  of  the  enemy  are  on  a  scale  of  tremendous  ex- 
tent and  in  alliance  therewith  arc  the  still  more  formidable 
hosts  of  our  national  and  individual  sins.  These  alarm 
our  apprehensions,  and  lead  us  to  deprecate  the  righteous 
judgments  of  God.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  reason  to 
think  that  within  the  last  ten  or  tweny  years  the  king- 
dom  of  our  Lord  has  been  greatly  enlarged  in  our  native 
country;  that  it  is  daily  increasing,  and  that  the  influen- 
ces of  God's  spirit  have  been  more  extensively  communicated, 
and  have  produced  a  very  increased  degree  of  zeal  for  his 
glory.  These  are  encouraging  circumstances  ;  and  although  in 
the  most  calamitous  events  that  could  befall  us,  wc  must 
acknowledge,  "  Eighteous  art  thou,  0  Lord  ,  when  thou  judgest !" 
Yet  I  think  it  has  not  been  the  usual  procedure  of  Divine  Pro- 


BRITISH   AND   FOREIGN   BIBLE   SOCIETY.  159 

vidence  to  overwhelm  and  destroy  a  nation  thus  circumstanced. 
It  would  be  a  singular,  perhaps  a  new  case  in  the  Divine 
administration.  I  trust  therefore,  that  although  it  may  be  re- 
quisite for  us  to  receive  a  measure  of  correction,  we  shall 
nevertheless  be  favoured  with  deliverance,  and  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  ascribe  salvation  to  our  God.  Instead  of  the  utter 
destruction  of  this  country,  is  there  not  ground  to  think  that 
the  principal  characteristics,  the  Divine  dispensations  on  which 
we  are  entering,  are  judgment  and  ruin  on  the  interests  of  Anti- 
Christ  ?  and  that  notwithstanding  present  appearances,  the 
great  and  decisive  struggle  will  take  place  on  the  European 
continent,  where  in  almost  every  country,  notwithstanding  the 
profession  and  establishment  of  Christianity,  the  political  and 
eclesiastical  institutions  are  such,  that  the  general  propagation 
of  vital  religion  is,  humanly  speaking,  an  impracticable  thing? 
The  war,  or  series  of  wars  which  are  approaching,  however 
calamitous  or  revolutionary  they  may  prove,  may  yet  lead  to  a 
result  highly  auspicious  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  This  antici- 
pation at  least  cheers  the  mind  under  the  impending  glooms 
which  every  day  thicken  upon  us,  and  helps  to  sustain  our 
spirits  under  that  dismay  which  would  otherwise  too  much 
depress  them. 

You  will  most  likely  have  heard  that  the  widow  of  our  late 
friend  Dr.  Hunter  did  not  long  survive  her  husband.  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  a  letter  from  you  to  Miss  Hunter 
would  be  a  particular  consolation  to  her  under  the  afflictive 
dispensations  which  have  attended  her. 

March  7.  I  hope  this  day  will  be  memorable  in  its  effects,  by 
means  of  a  society  formed  this  forenoon,  called  The  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society^  the  meeting  for  which  has  been  well 
attended  and  supported  by  Christians  of  every  description.  Its 
object  is  the  most  general  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  in  every 
language  and  country,  so  iav  as  the  society  may  have  the 
means  of  effecting  it. 

I  am  with  sincere  affection  and  respect,  &c., 

JOSEPH  HARDCASTLE. 


160  LETTER  TO   niS    UNCLE. 

MR.  M.  TO  MR.  E.  MASON,  EDINBURGH. 

New  York,  April  10, 1804. 
My  Dear  Uncle  :  Yours  of  the  25tli  January  came  to 
hand  on  the  6th  instant.  Blessed  be  the  giver  of  all  good,  for 
preserving  you  all  in  life  and  in  some  degree  of  comfort.  My 
dear  aunt  can  hardly  expect,  through  the  remainder  of  her 
pilgrimage,  much  bodily  strength.  But  this  will  render  more 
precious  to  her  heart  those  supports  of  the  gospel  to  which  I 
trust  she  is  not  a  stranger.  Wonderful  power,  wonderful  grace, 
wonderful  triumph  !  Power,  grace  and  triumph  purely  Christ- 
ian, that  though  our  outward  man  perish  yet  the  irnvard  man  is 
reiuioed  day  hy  day.  A  believer  has  never  in  this  world  so 
firm  a  hold  of  the  liouse  not  made  with  hands  as  when  the  earthly 
house  of  this  toier??acZe  threatens  to  be  dissolved  \  nor  is  so  stongly 
marked  for  immortality,  as  when  he  lias  the  sentence  of  death 
vaosi  di\&imQ,i\j  within  himself  This  is  one  of  the  gladdening 
mj'steries  which  though  hidden  from  the  world,  pour  forth 
their  peace  and  joy  into  his  soul,  in  virtue  of  his  union  with 
the  Resurrection  and  the  Life.  I  hope  that  Aggie  and  Christy, 
whom  I  tenderly  love,  study  their  mother's  comfort.  Much  is 
now  in  their  power  to  repay  for  her  tenderness,  anxieties  and 
sufferings  for  them.  Margaret's  marriage  was  an  interesting 
event  in  the  history  of  your  family.  I  pray  that  grace  may  be 
multiplied  to  the  youthful  pair.  I  shall  write  them  shortly. 
She  should  have  had  a  letter  from  me  before  now,  but  really  I 
have  been  pressed  with  more  multiplied  business  since  I  came 
home  than  ever  before. 


On  hearing  of  Dr.  Hunter's  death,  Afr.  Mason  wrote  the 
letter  of  condolence,  contained  in  a  former  page,  to  the 
widow  ;  but  before  it  reached  her,  she  herself  was  summoned 
to  join  her  hu.sband  in  that  better  world  to  which  he  had  gone. 
This  gave  occasion  for  the  following  to  their  daughter: — 

MR.  M.  TO  MISS  AGNES  HUNTER. 

New  Youk,  May  1.  1804. 

My  Dkar  Miss  Hunter  :  Some  time  since,  a  report  reached 
me  that  your  excellent  mother  had  followed  your  lamented 


DEATH  OF   MRS.   DR.   HUNTER.  161 

father  into  that  unseen  world  where,  I  trust,  they  are  reunited 
in  the  purity  of  immortals.  Deep  is  the  wound  which  the 
death  of  relatives  plants  in  the  bosom,  but  sweet,  my  friend,  is 
that  consolation  which  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  pours  into  the 
wound.  There  is  nothing  in  Christianity  which  forbids  our 
tears,  or  would  suppress  our  sighs.  The  Saviour  wept,  and 
why  may  not  we  ?  or  why  should  we  think  a  groan  pusillani- 
mous, when  groans  have  issued  from  his  holy  breast?  But  to 
bear  prosperity  with  temper,  and  affliction  with  cheerfulness,  it 
is  necessary  that  we  be  Christians  indeed.  The  world  has  no 
prescription  for  an  agonizing  spirit.  Nor  will  a  form  of  godli- 
ness serve  our  turn,  when  nature's  pain  is  to  be  converted  into 
profit,  and  nature's  horror  into  blessing.  To  know  the  Lord 
Jesus  as  the  Lord  my  righteousness,  my  strength;  my  refuge,  is 
to  be  preferred  to  whatever  the  thoughtless  can  challenge  as 
their  own  ;  and  when  the  hand  of  God  disconcerts,  distracts, 
or  stupifies  them,  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing, will  keep  our  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus. 
The  end,  the  end,  my  dear  Miss  Hunter,  is  the  great  object  of 
our  concern.  This  well  adjusted,  and  fixed  on  the  basis  of 
God's  most  gracious  promise,  all  the  rest  is  light,  is  easy,  is 
beneficial.  In  this  connexion  stand  all  the  provisions  which 
His  mercy  has  made  for  support  and  consolation.  "  A  father  of 
the  fatherless,  and  a  husband  of  the  widow,  is  God  in  his  holy 
habitation."  His  word  is  sure,  "A  good  man  leaveth  an  inher- 
itance to  his  children's  children  ;"  so  that  you  may  say,  "When 
my  father  and  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me 
up."  If  we  have  relied  upon  his  truth  for  our  future  hope,  we 
may  do  it  also  for  our  present  comfort.  Godliness,  and  that 
alone,  has  the  promise  of  this  life,  and  of  the  life  to  come. 
Your  friends,  I  hear,  have  not  been  backward  in  their  proofs 
of  attachment;  but  I  feel  too  much  interested  in  your  welfare 
to  be  satisfied  with  vague  rumour.  Let  me  have  the  pleasure 
of  a  line  from  you  when  it  shall  accord  with  your  convenience. 
Did  my  letter  to  your  mother  arrive  before  her  removal  had 
superseded  all  earthly  condolence  ?  How  is  your  father's  place 
supplied  ? 

Your  sincere  friend, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

11 


162  ASPECTS   OF   PROVIDENCE. 

The  letters  of  Mr.  Hardcastle,  sometimes  touching  upon  pub- 
lic events,  but  more  generally  upon  plans  of  benevolence  and 
the  prospects  of  the  church,  always  struck  Mr.  Mason  with 
thrilling  interest,  as  his  answers  show  : — 

MR.  M.  TO  MR.  HARDCASTLE,  LONDON. 

New  York,  May  1,  1804, 

My  Dear  Friend  :  Your  letters  of  the  9th  February  and  of 
March  7tb,  have  arrived.  For  both,  my  hearty  thanks  are  due. 
The  pressure  of  various  kinds  of  business,  which  always  crowd 
upon  me  about  the  time  of  our  annual  Synods,  hinders  me  at 
present  from  conversing  (for  it  is  conversation),  particularly 
about  some  points  in  your  very  animating  letters. 

Such  "good  news  from  a  far  country"  is,  indeed,  as  "cold 
water  to  a  thirsty  soul."  Yet  it  is  sad,  my  friend,  but  I  cannot 
dissemble  that  I  consider  the  astonishing  efforts  to  spread  the 
Gospel  as  one  class  of  those  events,  which,  while  they  serve  to 
"prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord,"  and  hold  a  most  conspicuous 
place  among  Ilis  arrangements  for  introducing  the  latter  day 
glory,  do,  at  the  same  time,  warn  the  churches  of  approaching 
darkness,  and  call  aloud  to  every  Christian  to  be  at  his  post' 
That  this  generation,  or  the  next,  or  the  following,  is  to  see 
lasting  peace^  or  regularly  increasing  triumph  of  truth,  is  a  hope 
which  I  would,  but  dare  not,  cherish.  The  whole  moral  state 
of  the  world,  the  prodigious  changes  which  must  happen  within 
a  period  comparatively  short,  and  the  solemn  declarations  of  .  I 
prophetical  Scripture — all  combine  against  such  a  hope.  That 
the  world  has  not  seen  its  worst  times,  there  is  great  reason  to 
believe ;  that  the  church  has  seen  hers,  I  can  neither  affirm  nor 
deny ;  but  that  waters  of  a  full  and  bitter  cup  are  yet  to  be 
wrung  out  to  her,  cannot,  I  think,  be  successfully  disputed.  O^ 
how  soothing,  how  refreshing,  how  transporting,  that  our  Lord 
Jesus  reigns! — that  He  looks  tenderly  upon  us! — that  lie  will 
infallibly  cause  the  "  wrath  of  man  to  praise  Him !"  and  will 
"restrain  the  remainder  of  wrath!"  Dear  Mr.  Ilardcastle, 
what  an  hour  is  this  !  My  blood  freezes ;  all  hell  teems  with 
mischief,  and  all  heaven  with  mercy.  The  conflict  will  be  such 
as  when  heaven  and  hell  conflict;  this  little  globe  the  scene; 
and  these  souls  and  bodies  the  objects!     I  should  sink  but  for 


ASPECTS   OF   PEOVIDENCE.  163 

that  cheering  voice — •'  As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Je- 
rusalem, so  is  the  Lord  round^  about  His  people."  How  natu- 
ral the  question  of  unbelief,  "What  will  become  of  such  an 
atom  as  I?"  But  how  prompt  the  answer  of  faith.- "In  the 
time  of  trouble,  He  shall  hide  me  in  His  pavilion ;  in  the  secret 
of  His  tabernacle  shall  He  hide  me !  He  shall  set  me  upon  a 
rock,  and  now,^'' — yes,  there's  the  victory, — "now  my  head 
shall  be  lifted  up  above  mine  enemies."  Come,  my  friend,  "  let 
us  enter  into  our  chambers  and  shut  the  door  about  us ;  let  us 
hide  ourselves  for  a  little  moment,  until  the  indignation  be  over- 
past." For  "behold  the  Lord  cometh  out  of  His  place  to  pun- 
ish the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniquity.  The  earth 
also  shall  disclose  her  blood,  and  shall  no  more  cover  her  slain." 

I  began  with  a  short  note,  but  my  pen  is  indulging  a  digres- 
sion to  which  it  is  very  prone. 

No  time  shall  be  lost  or  exertion  spared  in  starting  our  Semi- 
nary. But  think  of  the  disparity  of  circumstances  here  and 
with  you,  and  make  allowances  accordingly.  As  you  have 
opportunity,  do  me  the  favour  to  thank  our  benefactors  in  be- 
half of  our  churches.  My  kindest  regards  towards  Mrs.  Hard- 
castle  and  your  dear  family,  are,  as  you  will  consider  them,  a 
matter  of  course. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1803—1804. 
HOM  E    CORRESPONDENCE. 

Letter  to  Mrs.   Boorman — Letter  to  Mrs.   Brown — Letter  from   Mr.  Brown — 
Letter  to  Mr.  J.  Nourse. 

TO  MES.  BOORMAN. 

Newark,  N.  J.,  Sept.  12,  1S03. 
My  Dear  Madam  :  I  mingle  my  tears  with  yours  on  the  very 
afflicting  dispensation  which  has  bereaved  you  of  your  lovely 
daughter.  What  shall  we  say  ?  He  is  a  high  and  Holy  Sove- 
reign with  whom  we  have  to  do.  "He  giveth  no  account  of 
any  of  his  matters."  Even  the  affections  of  a  mother  must  bow. 
His  chastenings  are  severe,  but  they  afford  no  just  cause  of 
murmur.  Sinjiers  have  reason  to  praise,  but  none  to  repine,  so 
long  as  they  are  not  shut  up  under  the  condemnation  and  in 
the  perdition  of  ungodly  men.  Charming  indeed  has  been  your 
domestic  circle  ;  sweet  the  disposition  of  your  children  ;  happy 
your  heart  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  uncommonly  filial  love. 
Eemember  the  past  with  gratitude:  and  for  the  present  put 
your  hand  upon  your  lips.  "I  was  dumb,"  said  the  Psalmist! 
"I  opened  not  my  lips,  because  thou  didst  it."  Ah,  it  is  so; 
and  "it  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  are  not  consumed, 
because  his  compassions  fail  not."  "Shall  we  indeed  receive 
good  at  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  wc  not  also  receive  evil  ?" 
Much,  very  much  remains  to  deserve  and  to  demand  your  thank- 
fulness. The  mighty  One  of  Israel  might  have  taken  all ;  but 
he  has  not.  You  are  not  yet  a  widow  mourning  over  the  bier 
of  her  last  child.  Unutterable  goodness  has  left  you  a  daughter 
preeminent  in  natural  and  gracious  excellences.  It  has  left  you 
sons  who  will  cherish  you  with  tenderness,  and  who,  if  they 
follow,  as  I  pray  the  God  of  salvation  they  may,  their  sister's 


AFFLICTIONS  AND   SUPPORTS.  165 

footsteps,  will  render  you  still  a  very  happy  mother.  But  the 
sanctifying,  as  well  as  pardoning  mercy  of  our  God,  is  the  all-im- 
portant concern.  And  he  is  rich  in  mercy  ;  he  is  ready  to  for- 
give ;  he  waits  to  be  gracious.  His  very  scourgings  are  in 
loving-kindness.  Seasons  of  sorrow,  are,  in  a  peculiar  manner, 
seasons  in  which  his  ear  is  open.  The  rod  is  often  the  har- 
binger of  everlasting  blessing.  Send  up  your  cry  to  God  in  the 
heavens.  Send  it  up  in  the  name  of  that  Jesus  who  is  "  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  to  God  by  him,  seeing  he 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them."  Your  refusre  for 
peace  is  in  the  covenant  righteousness  of  an  Almighty  and  com- 
passionate Saviour  ;  and  for  support  in  his  promised  strength. 
Acquaintance  with  him  as  our  oion  Saviour  is  ever  valuable, 
but  oh,  how  valuable  when  we  must  drink  the  w^ormwood  and 
the  gall!  when  the  bands  of  grief  gird  our  loins!  when  our 
heart  is  broken  under  the  stroke  of  God's  hand !  It  is  his 
blessed  ofiice,  "to  comfort  them  that  mourn;"  to  "bind  up  the 
broken  hearted ;"  to  compensate  all  the  anguish  of  his  severer 
visitations.  Dear  madam,  nothing  can  be  a  portion  for  our 
souls,  Avhich  there  is  any  danger  of  losing.  The  Lord  teaches 
us  the  lesson  often  by  bitter  experience.  Himself,  himself 
alone  is  our  satisfying  good.  Precious  affliction,  if  it  issue  in 
bringing  you  close  to  himself;  and  to  a  life  of  faith  in  him  as  the 
fountain  of  living  waters. 

I  know  not  what  the  prospects  of  this  day  are  for  your 
Robert.*  The  Lord  spare  him,  or  ripen  him  for  the  kingdom  ! 
and  that  will  be  far  better  than  staying  with  you.  Aim,  oh, 
aim  at  giving  him  up  implicitly — loithout  stipulation  or  reserve 
— into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Sweet  is  the  resig- 
nation of  the  gospel ;  and  amiable  in  the  sight  of  God,  that  will 
which  is  sunk  in  his  will.  Dear  little  Marcus,f  I  hope,  is  con- 
cerned to  surrender  himself  up  in  soul  and  body  to  that  precious 
Eedeemer  Avho  honours  infant  piety,  and  loves  the  voice  of 
infant  prayer.  James,  surely,  is  not  insensible  to  the  privilege 
as  well  as  necessity,  of  seeking  the  Lord  and  his  strength,  in 
the  days  of  his  youth.  How  great  the  attainment  to  have  all 
things  for  eternity  settled  soon.  "My  soul  is  safe,  and  death 
cannot  hurt  me,  and  the  tribunal  of  God  has  nothing  to  terrify 

"  Who  was  lying  at  the  point  of  death.  f  Her  youngest  child . 


166  DEATH  OF   A   CHILD. 

me.  I  am  a  Christian,  and  partake  of  Him  who  is  the  Resur- 
rection and  the  Life:  therefore  will  I  not  fear."  What  a  tri- 
umph !  May  you  my  dear  Madam,  and  yours,  know  it  in 
its  glory !  I  commend  you  to  "  God  who  raiseth  up  those  who 
are  cast  down,"  beseeching  him  to  bestow  upon  him  "everlast- 
ing consolation  and  good  hope  through  grace  ;"  and  am, 

Yours  in  unfeigned  sympathy, 

J.  M."  MASON. 

Early  in  1804,  his  sister  Mrs.  Brown  was  well  nigh  prostrated 
by  a  stroke  which  he  very  tenderly  shared  with  her,  and  he 
thus  gave  utterance  to  his  feelings: — 

MR.  M.  TO  MRS.  BROWN,  FRANKFORT. 

New  York,  Feb.  15,  1804. 

This  moment,  my  beloved  sister,  have  I  receiv^ed  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  departure  of  your  little  Alfred.  It  is  well !  Is 
it  not,  my  sister  ?  The  Father  of  Spirits  has  called  away  your 
son,  and  he  doeth  all  things  well.  You  gave  him  up,  I  trust,  to 
the  God  of  salvation  long  before  now  ;  and  should  you  complain 
that  he  has  taken  you  at  your  word  ?  "\Ve  are  ver}^  imperfect 
judges  of  what  is  good  for  us.  A  stroke  of  affliction  is  often 
the  sharp,  but  beneficent  remedy  against  evils  which  are  near, 
and  are  prevented  by  it.  You  know  not  what  snares  were  laid 
for  yourself  and  family  which  by  this  dispensation  you  may 
escape.  You  know  not  from  what  mischiefs  your  boy  has  been 
rescued,  nor  what  sword  has  been  turned  aside  from  passing 
through  your  own  .soul.  Let  us  sit  down  under  the  consolation 
of  this  promise,  "Yea,  the  Lord  will  give  that  which  is  good." 
Oh,  my  sister,  we  have  so  many  mercies,  while  we  deserve 
none,  that  when  chastening  comes  it  is  but  decent  for  us  to 
"hold  our  peace."  And  if  these  chastenings  of  the  Lord  are 
designed  "that  we  should  not  be  condemned  with  the  world," 
the  silence  of  submission  should  be  broken  by  the  song  of 
praise.  There  is  nothing  in  religion  to  stifle  the  emotions  of 
nature,  or  to  make  the  heart  a  hypocrite ;  but  much  to  regulate 
its  emotions,  to  purify  its  attachments,  and  to  sweeten  its  griefs. 
Here  my  sister  is  the  point  of  Christian  triumph.  Alike  empty 
in  its  bustle  and  frigid  in  its  comforts,  the  world  has  no  pre- 


CHRISTIAN   RESIGNATION.  167 

scription  for  a  broken  heart.  And  from  the  grave  it  turns  away 
pallid  and  fainting.  Thrice  charming  light  of  heaven,  which, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  shows  glorious 
immortality,  and  beams  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  into  the 
corruption  of  the  tomb!  This,  Oh  this  is  the  great  concern, 
"  to  win  Christ  and  be  found  in  him,  not  having  our  own 
righteousness."  My  sister  says  Amen  !  My  inmost  soul  pours 
out  its  supplication,  that  we  may  "know  in  whom  we  have 
believed ;"  and  then  nothing  can  come  really  amiss,  because 
nothing  can  happen  to  us  but  by  the  direction  of  our  God  and 
Father;  and  nothing  can  take  away  our  inheritance.  That 
which  can  die,  is  no  portion  for  souls  which  cannot  die.  "The 
fountain  of  life"  alone,  is  equal  to  our  wants.  Let  us  now 
humbly  look  and  pray  for  the  Lord's  blessing  upon  his  rod ; 
that  it  may  teach  us  to  live  in  felt  dependence  on  him ;  may 
wean  us  from  idolatrous  love ;  may  render  us  more  solicitous 
for  our  own  and  our  children's  eternal  welfare  ;  may  keep  us 
in  the  habit  of  daily  surrendering  them  up  to  the  Divine  dis- 
posal ;  may  help  us  to  be  ready  for  that  serious  hour  in  which 
we  too  shall  be  gathered  to  our  fathers.  They  only  are  happy 
who  need  not  fear  death ;  and  they  only  have  no  reason  to  fear 
it  who  have  an  interest  in  Jesus.  May  that  interest  be  sealed 
upon  my  sister's  heart  by  the  "holy  spirit  of  promise  !" 

You  require  no  assurance  of  our  sympathy  here.  Though 
this  family  claims  the  preeminence  in  the  scale  of  affection,  you 
have  not  left  a  friend  whose  kind  and  constant  inquiries  are  not 
a  pledge,  that  all  take  a  particular  interest  in  you  and  yours. 

Your  friend,  Miss  Nicholson,  is  not  without  trouble,  and  may 
shortly  have  more,  as  her  father  is  struggling  with  illness  from 
which  there  is  little  hope  of  his  recovery.  The  family  of  sor- 
row is  large.  Thanks  be  to  God,  that  our  connexions  with  it 
have  hitherto  been  so  few !     I  mean  as  to  personal  suffering. 

The  precious  Redeemer,  "  Bless  and  keep  you  !" — be  your 
"refuge  and  strength  !" — your  "  very  present  help  in  time  of 
trouble  1" 


The  effect  of  a  similar  letter  upon  the  mind  of  a  distinguished 
statesman,  at  the  time  separated  from  his  family   by  public 


168  PARENTAL  AND  CONJUGAL  TENDERNESS. 

duties,  cannot  fail  to  interest  every  thoughtful  reader.     We 
learn  it  from  himself: — 

TO  THE  REV.  J.  M.  MASON. 

WA8IIIXGT0N,  Feb.  28,  1804. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  received  with  much  pleasure  your  friend- 
ly and  consolatory  letter  of  the  17th  instant,  and  should  have 
tendered  you  my  warmest  acknowledgments  for  the  favor  at  an 
earlier  day,  had  not  unavoidable  causes  of  delay  prevented. 
The  duties  of  the  chair  to  which  I  was  called  in  the  absence  of 
the  Vice-President,  who  did  not  resume  his  seat  till  j-esterday, 
and  a  variety  of  business  particularly  interesting  to  the  "West- 
ern country,  have  fully  occupied  my  time  by  day,  and  a  Aveak- 
uess  in  my  eyes  has  for  some  weeks  past  put  it  out  of  my  pow- 
er to  write  by  candlelight.  Indeed  had  it  been  otherwise,  I 
do  not  think  I  could  have  written  with  even  tolerable  compos- 
ure in  relation  to  the  afflicting  event  which  has  made  so  great 
an  inroad  upon  the  happiness  of  my  little  family.  I  have,  my 
dear  brother,  seriously  endeavoured  to  resort  to  those  sources 
of  consolation  which  you  have  so  kindly  suggested,  and  so 
warmly  recommend  to  my  consideration.  They  have  in  some 
measure  contributed  to  the  relief  and  tranquillity  of  my  mind  ; 
yet  I  still  feel  the  wound  in  ever}^  fibre  of  my  heart,  and  find 
it  a  difficult  task  to  submit  with  due  humility  and  resignation 
to  the  sharp  discipline  to  which  a  gracious  God  (in  mercy  I 
trust)  has  been  pleased  to  subject  me.  Had  the  affliction  occasioned 
by  the  premature  fate  of  my  dear  boy,  been  confined  to  myself 
only,  I  believe  I  could  have  borne  it  with  greater  firmness ; 
but  my  fortitude  forsakes  me  when  I  reflect  upon  the  severe 
distress  which  my  dear  Margaretta  must  have  experienced  on 
so  trying  an  occasion.  Few  of  her  sex  can  lay  claim  to  equal 
solidity  of  judgment,  strength  of  mind,  and  power  of  self-pos- 
session ;  but  on  the  other  hand  her  sensibility  and  maternal 
tenderness  are  extreme ;  and  in  her  present  delicate  situation, 
especially  when  deprived  of  that  comfort  and  support  which 
mv  duty  and  afibction  for  the  best  of  women  must  ever  dictate, 
I  could  not  but  dread  the  consequences  from  so  great  a  shock  j 
my  anxiety  and  fears  on  this  score  have  however  been  much 
relieved  by  a  letter  from  herself,  and  several  from  my  brothers, 


MISSIONARY  DOCUMENTS.  169 

all  of  which  assure  me  that  the  calamity  was  sustained  by  her 
with  as  much  firmness  as  the  nature  of  the  privation  could 
admit  of,  and  that  her  health  has  suffered  less  than  could  well 
have  been  expected.  I  should  have  set  out  on  my  return  home 
immediately,  had  not  some  matters  of  both  a  public  and  a  perso- 
nal nature  imperiously  required  my  presence  here  till  the  8d  of 
March.  On  that  day,  I  fully  intend  to  set  out,  though  I  could 
have  wished  to  postpone  my  journey  somewhat  longer — as  the 
bills  relative  to  Louisiana,  and  to  the  Western  countr}^,  are  yet 
depending,  and  in  all  probability  will  not  be  decided  until  after 
that  time. 

Your  enclosure  for  Margaretta  arrived  safe  and  has  been  for- 
warded. Be  so  good  as  to  inform  my  dear  niece  Euphemia, 
that  Dr.  Mitchel  delivered  to  me  her  note,  with  a  package  for 
her  aunt,  which  I  shall  take  on  with  me. 

I  pray  you  to  present  my  most  affectionate  regards  to  each 
member  of  your  family,  and  rest  assured  that  I  am, 
Dear  Sir,  with  great  esteem, 

Yours  sincerely 

I        J.  BROWN. 

■    TO  J.  NOURSE,  Esq.,  WASHINGTON  CITY. 

New  York,  April  7,  1804. 

My  Dear  Friend:  Your  last  letter  has  slumbered  long, 
long  enough  to  try  even  your  patience.  You  see  how  it  is : 
"We  take  the  largest  liberties  -w^th  those  we  love  most;  and  the}'- 
who  are  least  given  to  complaining  are  sure  to  have  the  greatest 
reason  for  it. 

The  Treasurer  of  our  Society  is  absent,  or  I  should  enclose 
his  receipt  for  Mr.  Jamieson's  donation.  Be  so  kind  as  to  ten- 
der him  the  thanks  of  the  Missionary  Society  for  his  liberality. 
As  soon  as'  the  Annual  Sermon,  which  was  preached  by  Dr. 
Livingston,  appears,  I  will  forward  you  a  copy.  In  the  mean 
time  accept  Mr.  Kicherer's  account  of  his  mission  to  the  Hot- 
tentots. You  will  read  it  with  interest ;  as  you  will  the  last 
report  of  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  which 
I  send  with  it. 

Through  the  continuance  of  that  mercy  which  has  followed 
me  all  my  life  long,  in  the  midst  of  multiplied  offences,  and 


170  MR.   LAURIE  ACCEPTABLE. 

which  I  hope  will  never  forsake  me,  my  family  are  spared  and 
healthy.  Some  uneasiness  has  been  excited  in  the  congrega- 
tion by  questions  raised  about  the  settlement  of  a  second  min- 
ister. All  things,  I  trust,  will  shortly  revert  to  their  wonted 
tranquillity — a  blessing  with  which  our  churches  have  been 
eminently  favoured.  But  it  is  good  for  us  to  have  practical 
proofs  that  societies  can  no  more  dispense  with  the  counsels  of 
our  Lord,  than  individuals  can.  Mr.  Laurie  can  furnish  you 
with  more  particulars.  My  soul  rejoices  in  his  acceptableness 
and  prosperity.  May  God,  who  alone  giveth  the  increase, 
furnish  and  own  him  !  It  is  my  present  intention,  if  nothing  in 
Providence  forbid,  to  be  refreshed  with  a  visit  to  Washington 
before  I  return  home  from  the  General  Synod.  I  am  not  san- 
guine ;  for  I  have  found  that  it  is  not  wise  to  set  our  hearts 
upon  personal  gratifications.  Disappointments  are  lucid  com- 
ments upon  the  excellence  of  the  life  of  faith. 

Ever  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1804. 

THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. 

Plan  Reported— Chosen  Prefesfsor — His  various  and  heavy  Duties — Consultation^ 

Doctorate. 

The  principal  business  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  this 
year  related  to  measures  for  establishing  their  Theological 
Seminary.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  at  a  previous  meeting 
Mr.  Mason,  with  another  minister,  had  been  appointed  a  "  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  draught  of  a  plan"  for  such  Seminary. 
The  report  of  this  committee  was  now  presented,  and  is  too 
important  a  document  to  be  here  omitted.     It  is  as  follows  : — 

The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  draught  of  a  plan 
for  the  Seminary  proposed  to  be  erected  by  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church,  beg  leave  to  report  to  the  General  Synod  : — 

That,  in  their  judgment,  nothing  ever  attempted  by  this 
church  required  more  caution,  zeal,  and  firmness,  than  the 
erection  of  a  Seminary  which  is  to  form  and  to  fix  the  charac- 
ter of  her  future  ministry.  The  Lord  Jesus  has  charged  his 
church  to  see  that  her  ministers  be  not  only  "  faithful,"  but 
"able"  men — that  they  be  "apt  to  teach"— "well  instructed  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven" — workmen  who  need  not  to  be 
ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth" — "  wise  stewards 
to  give  the  household  their  portion  of  meat  in  due  season" — 
qualified  to  "  confirm  the  souls  of  the  disciples" — to  "  convince 
gainsayers" — to  "  stop  the  mouths  of  unruly  and  vain  talkers" — 
to  "  reprove,  to  rebuke,  to  exhort,  with  all  long-suffering,  and 
doctrine,  and  authority."  While  the  radical  principle  of  their 
ministry  is  that  "  precious  faith"  by  which  they  have  "  re- 
ceived  Christ  Jesus   the    Lord"    as   their   risrhteousncss   and 


172  THOROUGH  PREPARATION. 

strength  for  tlieir  personal  salvation  ;  and  while  the  efficient 
cause  of  all  their  success  is  the  power  of  that  Holj  Spirit  who 
alone  giveth  the  increase,  even  to  the  planting  of  Paul,  or  the 
watering  of  Apollos,  it  is  indispensable,  if  we  would  not  tempt 
the  Lord,  that  much  pains  be  taken,  in  the  use  of  ordinary 
means,  for  cultivating  the  talents  of  youth,  and  for  storing  their 
minds  with  those  valuable  materials  which  the  Divine  blessing 
may  sanctify  to  the  edification  of  the  church ;  materials  which 
few  men  can  rightly  estimate  hefore  entering  into  the  ministry, 
and  the  want  of  which  no  thinking  man  after  entering  upon  it, 
does  not  deplore  till  his  latest  hour. 

The  committee,  therefore,  are  not  to  inform  the  Synod  what 
various  researches,  what  combined  lights,  what  discriminating 
habits,  what  acquaintance  with  the  enemies  of  truth,  what 
facility  of  repelling  their  attacks,  are  necessary  to  the  minister 
who  hopes  to  "  show  himself  approved  unto  God,"  as  one  alike 
prejjared  to  give  "  milk  unto  babes,"  or  "  strong  meat  unto 
men,"  and  who  is  "  set  for  the  defence  of  the  Grospel !"  Thus 
impressed,  the  committee  cannot  view  but  with  grief  and 
alarm,  the  relaxed  state  of  education  for  the  Christian  ministrj'' 
— the  rapidity  with  which  young  men  are  hurried  into  this 
most  awful  of  human  functions — the  barrenness  too  often  visible 
in  their  ministrations — the  consequent  depression  of  the  minis- 
terial name — the  usurpation  of  the  ministerial  office  by  vain 
and  ignorant  zealots,  and  a  long  train  of  evils  which  may,  in  a 
great  measure,  be  traced  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  want  of 
suitable  preparation. 

It  is  the  solemn  conviction  of  your  Committee,  that  all  efforts 
to  build  up  the  Church  of  God,  to  extend  intelligent  piety ^  or  to 
arrest  the  course  of  error  and  delusion^  tvhich  do  not  embrace,  as 
their  principal  means,  a  well-appointed  ministry/,  are  unavailing 
and  chimerical ;  and  they  trust  that  the  Synod  will  feel  it  their 
dutg  to  seize  the  opportunity  put  in  their  power,  at  the  erection 
of  a  Theological  Seminary,  to  make  a  stand  against  desolating 
fashion,  and  draw  the  line  of  ministerial  qualification  aa  near  as 
j^ossiblc  to  the  landmarks  which  were  held  sacred  by  the  Church 
in  the  best  days  of  her  purity  and  glory.  With  difficulty 
arising  from  perverted  habit,  from  local  situation,  from  inter- 
nal embarrassment,  and  other  causes,  the  Synod  must  expect 


PIETY  AND   TALENTS.  17.3 

to  conflict.  But  they  who  do  not  aim  at  great  things,  shall 
accomplish  only  little  things.  The  object  is  worth  the  struggle ; 
ultimate  success  among  the  fairest  probabilities ;  and  if  we 
should  fail  after  due  exertion,  we  cannot  lose  by  the  experi- 
ment ;  we  shall  fail  with  the  approbation  of  our  consciences  and 
our  God. 

The  Committee  are  of  opinion  that  the  system  of  education 
should  be  so  constructed  as  to  admit  of  an  easy  subdivison 
among  different  teachers,  when  the  condition  of  the  seminary 
shall  afford  more  than  one ;  and,  at  the  same  time  be  not  im- 
practicable in  the  hands  of  a  single  Professor.  How  far  they 
have  carried  their  idea  into  execution  the  Synod  will  de- 
termine. 

After  satisfaction  given  with  respect  to  personal  godliness, 
which  can  in  no  case  be  waved  as  preliminary  to  the  study  of 
divinity,  the  first  inquiry  is  into  natural  talents.  For  as  God  does 
not  call  every  pious  man  to  serve  him  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son, 
so  mere  piety,  without  a  suitable  portion  of  good  sense,  will 
never  answer  the  Apostle's  requisition,  "  Apt  to  teach."  The 
Committee,  therefore,  recommend  that  Presbyteries,  before 
accepting  any  one  as  a  student  of  divinity,  prescribe  to  him 
some  literary  exercise,  which  may  enable  them  to  judge  whether 
his  natural  endowments  be  such  as  to  justify  their  encouraging 
him.  This  condition  cannot  be  thought  hard ;  because  no 
youth  who  has  passed  with  tolerable  proficiency  through  a 
course  of  liberal  education  can  be  an  entire  stranger  to  the  use 
of  his  pen.  With  this  attention  to  taleiit  must  be  coupled  an 
attention  to  prudence;  as  nothing  is  more  hurtful  to  the 
Church's  peace,  nor  more  conducive  to  irritation  and  schism, 
than  the  imprudence  of  her  ministers.  They  are  to  be  "  wise 
as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves ;"  and  obedience  to  this 
precept  will  reject  every  applicant  who  is  known  to  be  habitu- 
ally imprudent  or  litigious.  The  principle,  too  little  regarded, 
that  the  Bible  itself  is  to  he  the  great  system  of  study ^  and,  what  is 
commonly  called  systematic  divinity  a  mere  auxiliary^  the  Com- 
mittee have  adopted  as  fundamental  in  their  plan.  They 
accordingly  propose  that  the  term  of  professional  instruction 
in  the  Seminary  \>q  five  years^  and  that  the  session  continue  in 
each  year  seven  or  eight  months  successively  ;    that  is  to  say, 


174  MEANS   OF   PERSONAL   RELIGION. 

from  the  first  of  October  or  November  in  each  year  till  the 
first  of  May  or  June  in  the  succeeding  year.  These  five  years 
to  be  divided  into  two  periods;  the  first  containing  two  years 
and  second  three.    The  course  of  study  to  proceed  as  follows : — 

1,  Every  student  to  begin  and  close  the  day  with  the  exer- 
cises of  secret  devotion ;  uniting  to  prayer  the  reading  of  a 
portion  of  God's  word,  and  of  some  book  of  impressive  prac- 
tical religion,  and  using  the  advice  of  the  Professor  in  his 
selection.  In  this  exercise  he  is  to  read  the  Scriptures  not  as  a 
critic^  but  as  a  Christian  ;  as  a  saved  sinner,  who  knows  no  other 
way  of  peace  but  that  which  belongs  to  him  in  common  with 
the  weakest  and  meanest  of  God's  redeemed ;  and  who  lives 
by  faith,  for  daily  counsel,  and  strength  and  consolation,  upon 
that  Saviour  whom  he  is  afterwards  to  preach  to  others  for 
their  pardon  and  hope.  Experience  has  long  affixed  her  seal 
to  this  truth,  that  the  constant  application  of  the  mind  to  divine 
things,  as  subjects  of  disquisition  and  elucidation^  tends  to  wear 
out  their  lively  influence  on  the  conscience  and  afiections.  This 
effect  of  studious  habit  must  be  counteracted  by  a  gracious 
habit  of  reading  the  Divine  Scriptures,  and  such  books  as 
breathe  most  of  their  temper,  in  an  humble,  reverential,  teach- 
able frame;  under  a  peculiar  recognition  of  the  presence  of  God, 
and  with  fervent  supplications  for  his  free  spirit.  The  student, 
therefore,  must  on  no  consideration  permit  his  mind,  during 
this  employment,  to  indulge  in  speculative  excursions ;  con- 
stantly remembering  that  one  of  his  hardest  tasks  will  be  to 
Resist  the  approaches  of  carnality,  and  that  a  carnal  minister  is 
the  most  detestable  object  in  the  house  of  God. 

2.  Such  a  portion  of  the  earlier  part  of  every  day  is  to  be 
devoted  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  tongues,  and 
of  that  classical  literature  tuhich  facilitates  this  study,  as,  by  a  faith- 
ful improvement  of  time,  may  enable  the  student,  in  the  latter 
period  of  his  course,  and  especiall}^  at  the  expiration  of  it,  to 
read  the  originals  with  tolerable  ease.  The  hours  devoted  to 
this  employment  should  be  most  at  first,  and  every  year  abridged 
to  make  room  for  subsequent  studies.  Kecitations  to  the  Pro- 
fessor should  be  so  frequent,  as  to  keep  up  and  stimulate  the 
spirited  prosecution  of  this  branch  of  study.  The  older  students 
may,  with  profit  to  themselves,  assist  the  Professor,  as  their 


THE   ORIGINAL   LANGUAGES.  175 

Other  engagements  shall  render  expedient.  By  regularity  and 
patience  in  this  exercise,  the  student  will  perform  with  ease 
what  he  at  first  thought  impossible ;  and  will  find  himself,  on 
leaving  the  Seminary,  in  possession  of  some  of  the  best  parts  of 
Grecian  and  Koman  literature,  with  which  no  biblical  critic  can 
dispense,  and  of  the  power  to  derive  his  truths  from  the  fountains 
themselves.  He  must  be  taught  from  the  beginning,  that  it  is 
degrading  and  unsafe  for  a  minister  of  Christ  to  be  incapable 
of  resorting  to  the  original,  which  are  the  authentic  Scriptures 
— that  the  knowledge  of  the  originals  is  worth  more  to  him 
than  all  versions,  with  all  comments — that  without  it  he  cannot 
vindicate  well,  in  all  points^  the  doctrines  which  he  advances ; 
cannot  rescue  either  his  hearers  or  himself  from  the  embarrass- 
ments created  by  erroneous  versions;  cannot  judge  between 
clashing  translations ;  nor,  relying,  as  he  must,  on  the  represen- 
tations of  others,  be  the  living  expositor  of  God's  Word  to  his 
flock;  but,  at  best,  an  interpreter  of  intrepretations. 

3.  To  the  critical  study  of  the  original  languages  must  suc- 
ceed the  regular  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  our  common 
version^  and  in  such  portion  as  shall  finish  the  whole  daring 
the  first  period  of  two  years.  This  must  occupy  the  remainder 
of  the  morning.  The  student  is  carefully  to  note  those  pas- 
sages which  produce,  at  the  time,  a  particular  impression  on  his 
mind,  and  very  briefly  to  minute  the  impression,  whether  of  a 
doctrinal,  controversial,  or  practical  kind.  He  is  also  to  note 
difficulties,  and  labour  to  resolve  them  for  himself.  Having  failed 
in  this,  he  may  repair  to  some  of  the  more  general  commenta- 
tors in  the  library,  and  converse  with  his  fellow-students  ;  and 
if  the  difficulties  still  remain,  he  is  to  give  it,  precisely  stated, 
to  the  Professor,  who  shall,  within  one  week,  but  not  on  the 
same  day,  explain  it,  if  he  think  proper,  before  the  students 
collectively ;  and  all  such  explanations  as  he  may  select,  it  shall 
be  their  duty  to  minute  very  briefly,  without  delay,  when  they 
are  dismissed.  To  ensure  greater  effect  from  this  mode  of 
reading  the  Scriptures,  he  shall  put  into  their  hands  the  most 
succinct  and  general  treatises  on  Scriptural  subjects  of  peculiar 
moment,  as  they  occur ;  and,  at  stated  periods,  shall  call  them 
to  account  on  these  subjects.  Their  books  of  notes  shall  at  all 
times  be  produced  to  the  Professor  on  demand. 


176  ■  AT  HOME   IN   THE  BIBLE. 

4.  Having  completed  the  first  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  first  two  years,  the  student  shall  commence  a  second  course 
of  the  same  nature  at  the  commencement  of  his  third  year,  di- 
viding it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  finish  the  second  reading  at 
the  expiration  of  his  last  year :  spending  three  years  upon  it. 
He  is  now  to  consult  the  originals,  step  hy  step,  as  he  goes  along; 
to  note  valuable  criticisms ;  to  have  his  course  of  Biblical  read- 
ing extended,  by  the  direction  of  the  Professor,  and  conducted 
exactly  as  in  the  first  period  ;  only  on  such  particulars  as  the 
Professor  shall  point  out,  he  shall  write  essays  not  to  exceed  a 
given  number  of  pages.  All  his  proofs  in  the  fifth  year  must 
be  referable  to  the  original  Scriptures. 

Steady  adherence  to  the  foregoing  plan  of  Scriptural  study, 
will  bring  to  the  student's  view,  and  familiarize  to  his  mind 
every  great  subject  of  ministerial  attention.  He  will  be  insensi- 
bly introduced  to  the  range  of  dogmatic,  polemic,  and  practical 
theology ;  will  be  stocked  with  materials  for  every  occasion ; 
will  be,  what  is  of  more  consequence  to  him  than  any  other 
acquirement,  and  what  he  can  hardly  hope  to  be  without  it — at 
home  in  the  Bible.  He  will  also  have  formed,  for  future  studies, 
habits  frugal  of  time,  and  abundant  in  fruit. 

5.  The  use  of  systematic  theology  being  not  so  much  to  inform 
the  mind,  as  to  methodize  materials  of  thought  previously  collected, 
the  study  of  it  shall  not  formally  commence  till  the  fourth  year. 
As  a  basis  for  it,  the  student  is  accurately  to  commit  to  memory 
the  whole  text  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Larger  Catechism. 
A  facility  of  stating  the  truth  with  clearness  and  connexion, 
which  will  be  greatly  promoted  by  this  exercise,  paves  the  way 
for  those  reasonings  by  which  it  is  to  be  illustrated  and  sup- 
ported. Here  the  Professor  shall  direct  the  students  to  the 
proper  books  on  each  subject,  being  particularly  vigilant  in 
causing  them  to  read  and  digest  under  his  own  eye,  such  as 
can  be  comprised  within  the  time  allotted,  and  may  give  them 
acquaintance  with  the  substance  of  the  system.  He  is  also  to 
lecture  upon  the  several  primary  topics  of  the  system,  following 
the  general  order  of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  It  may  be  proper 
for  him  to  require  from  the  students,  after  they  have  read  what 
has  been  prescribed  to  them,  a  short  dissertation  upon  the  prin- 
cipal doctrines  as  they  come  in  course;  in  preparing  which  dis- 


THE   ART   OF   THINKING   CULTIVATED.  177 

sertation  they  are  to  use  no  other  helps  than  their  Bible,  their 
own  reflections,  and  each  other's  conversation.  If  their  num- 
ber should  render  the  production  of  an  essay  from  every  one 
inconvenient  to  the  Professor,  he  may  class  them  by  two  or 
three,  and  receive  the  essay  from  them  jointly ;  but  in  this  case 
they  shall  be  alternately  the  penmen  of  their  respective  classes. 
After  examining  these  essays,  the  Professor  is  to  finish  the  dog- 
matical part  by  a  lecture  of  his  own  to  all  the  students  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  years;  and  is  immediately  to  follow  it  with  a 
summary  of  the  leading  objections  of  adversaries  ;  to  demand  a 
written  solution  of  them  upon  the  plan  of  the  essays;  and  to 
close  the  subject  with  presenting  it  to  his  pupils  in  such  a  form 
as  shall  rectify  their  mistakes,  supply  their  defects,  and  put 
them  in  possession  of  an  answer  both  concise  and  full. 

It  is  evident  that  these  exercises  cannot  be  restricted  to  equal 
measures  of  time ;  some  particulars  requiring  more  discussion 
and  research  than  others.  For  the  same  reason  the  Professor's 
lectures  cannot  be  tied  down  to  any  stipulated  days.  This 
must  be  entrusted  to  his  diligence  and  discretion.  But  he  must 
not  fail  to  complete  his  course  within  the  two  years.  This  rule 
is  essential,  and  nothing  should  induce  a  relaxation.  To  bring 
the  duty  which  it  prescribes  within  his  reach,  he  is  never  to 
forget  that  his  business  is  not  so  vfiucli  to  thinh  for  the  students  as 
to  assist  them  in  thinking  for  themselves.  The  whole  of  his  lec- 
tures must  be  accommodated  to  this  principle ;  and,  therefore, 
they  are  not  to  run  into  expatiation,  nor  to  descend  to  minute 
illustration,  but,  in  general,  to  state  propositions  and  arguments 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  student,  having  a  clear  perception  of 
them,  may  be  set  upon  a  train  of  elucidation  for  himself. 

From  the  foregoing  regulations  must  be  excepted  critical  lec- 
tures, which  the  Professor  should  deliver  at  stated  times,  not  on 
any  hooh  of  Scripture,  unless  occasionally  to  exhibit  a  specimen 
of  general  analysis,  but  on  passages  of  difficult  interpretation, 
or  momentous  controversy.  In  these  lectures  no  authority  is 
to  be  admitted  but  that  of  the  originals ;  and  ever}'  student  is 
to  have  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures  before  him,  and  is  to 
turn  up  to  the  texts  cited  by  the  Professor.  The  critical  lec- 
ture is  to  embrace  not  merely  the  philology  of  the  context,  but 
12 


178  A   BOARD   OF  SUPERINTENDENTS. 

its  connexion,  scope,  and  argument ;  and  is  designed  to  form 
in  the  student  the  rudiments  of  a  sound  expositor. 

C.  Every  student  shall  prepare,  in  his  fourth  year,  two  of 
those  discourses  commonly  called  lectures,  and  two  popular  ser- 
mons; and  in  his  fifih  year  three  of  each,  neither  to  exceed 
half  an  hour  when  deliberately  read  or  spoken — a  day  to  be  as- 
signed as  often  as  the  number  of  students  shall  render  necessary, 
for  the  delivery  of  discourses;  and  the  Professor  strictly  to 
watch  their  manner,  that  they  may  not  acquire  nor  retain  any 
vicious  habits  of  enunciation  or  gesture. 

7.  The  afternoons  to  be  appropriated  to  miscellaneous  read- 
ing, such  as  history,  morality,  geography,  belles-lettres,  &c., 
and  the  evenings  to  writing. 

8.  No  student,  when  in  health,  to  be  out  of  his  bed  after 
eleven  at  night ;  nor  in  it,  after  five  in  the  morning. 

9.  Intervals  of  study,  exclusively  of  meals,  to  be  sufficient 
for  such  manly  recreation  as  may  preserve  the  tone  of  the  ani- 
mal system,  and  prevent  that  lassitude,  debility,  and  depres- 
sion, which  never  fail  to  attack  a  life  entirely  sedentary,  to 
create  individual  \vretchedness,  and  mar  public  usefulness. 
This  is  considered  of  so  much  importance,  that  the  Professor  is 
to  enjoin  it  as  a  duty  upon  the  consciences  of  his  students,  and 
to  treat  and  censure  the  omission  of  it,  not  only  as  an  academi- 
cal crime,  but  as  a  sin  against  God. 

10.  Students  whose  temporal  circumstances  can  afford  it, 
shall  pay  into  the  public  fund,  for  the  use  of  the  Seminary,  the 
annual  sum  of dollars. 

11.  The  Seminary  shall  be  annually  visited  by  a  commission 
of  the  General  Synod,  who  shall  keep  records  of  their  proceed- 
ings, and  shall  report  to  the  Synod,  at  the  meeting  immediately 
following,  the  state  of  the  Seminary,  and  such  other  things  as 
they  may  judge  necessary  for  its  welfare;  always  consulting 
with  the  Professor  on  these  points.  The  time  of  visitation  shall 
also  be  the  time  of  admitting  students. 

12.  Students  of  other  denominations  may  be  admitted  into 
the  Seminary  upon  the  same  literary  terms  which  are  exacted 
from  those  of  our  own  body,  after  being  approved  by  the  com- 
mission of  the  General  Synod  as  to  their  personal  piety;  and 


CARE   OF   PRESBYTERIES   OVER   STUDENTS.  179 

on  the  condition  of  paying  into  the  fund,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
institution,  the  annual  sum  of dollars. 

13.  Every  student,  on  his  admission,  shall  bind  himself,  in  a 
written  obligation,  to  strict  obedience,  to  diligence,  to  peace, 
and  not  to  propagate,  directly  nor  indirectly,  any  opinion  or 
tenet  whatever,  contrary  to  the  known  faith  of  the  Associate 
Eeformed  Church, 

1-1.  In  so  far  as  relates  to  their  enjoyment  of  sacramental 
privilege,  all  students  shall  be  considered  as  subject  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  that  congregation  with  which  they  statedly  worship. 

15.  If  any  student  shall  be  habitually  idle,  or  shall  propagate 
any  opinion  or  tenet  contrary  to  the  known  faith  of  the  Asso- 
ciate Eeformed  Church,  as  contained  in  her  constitution;  or 
shall  foment  dissensions  or  quarrels;  or  shall  be  refractory  to 
his  teacher ;  he  shall  be  rebuked,  or  otherwise  censured  by  the 
teacher  or  the  congregational  judicatory,  and  his  conduct  repre- 
sented to  the  commission  of  the  General  Synod  at  their  general 
visitation ;  the  same  commission  to  be  invested,  with  the  sole 
power  of  expulsion  from  the  Seminary.  If  any  case  of  great 
emergency  cannot,  with  safety  to  the  institution,  be  postponed 
till  the  usual  time  of  visitation,  the  Professor  shall  have  author- 
ity to  convene  the  commission. 

16.  Every  Presbytery  shall  have  a  right  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  improvement  of  their  students,  during  the  recess  of  the 
Seminary  ;  but  no  Presbytery  shall  remove  a  student  with  a 
view  of  licensing  him  to  preach,  or  for  any  other  purpose,  before 
the  expiration  of  his  regular  course  of  study,  without  the  spe- 
cial leave  of  the  commission. 

17.  Minuter  details  to  be  reserved  for  adjustment  when  the 
Seminary  shall  actually  commence. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted.  . 

JAAIES  RCRIA[GEOUR,  |  ^ 
JOHN  M.  MASON,  \  <^o"umUee. 

Nevtburgii,  May  21st,  1804. 

Though  final  action  on  this  report  was  postponed,  the  import- 
ant step  of  appointing  a  Professor  for  the  institution  was  taken 
by  the  Synod.  After  mature  deliberation  and  solemn  prayer, 
the  choice,  with  entire  unanimity,  fell  upon  Mr.  Mason. 

When  Dr.  Chalmers  was  aj)pointed  to  a  like  station,  he  im- 


180  WANT  OF   ENDOWMENT. 

mediately  resigned  the  duties  of  his  pastoral  charge.  He  did  it 
as  a  matter  of  course,  knowing  full  Avell  that  the  burdens  of 
both  offices  were  too  heavy  for  any  one  man ;  and  the  necessity 
of  relinquishing  the  one  for  the  other  was  conceded  by  the 
Christian  community.  The  same  necessity  is  felt  with  regard 
to  the  professorships  of  our  present  Seminaries :  Andover, 
Princeton,  New  Brunswick,  Auburn,  New  Haven,  Windsor, 
&c.  Each  Seminary  has  several  Professors  ;  and  each  Professor 
is  wholly  devoted  to  a  single  department  of  study; — and  his 
hands  arc  full.  But  the  circumstances  of  the  case  required  that 
Mr.  Mason  should  not  only  sustain  alone  every  department  of 
study  in  the  Seminary,  but  that  he  should,  at  the  same  time, 
continue  to  sustain  the  labours  of  a  most  important  city  charge. 
He  had  no  adequate  means  for  the  support  and  education  of  his 
family,  without  a  salary.  This  he  could  receive  only  from  his 
congregation.  The  small  stipend  which  he  received  from  the 
Synod  barely  covered  the  incidental  expenses  of  his  Professor- 
ship. The  public  funds  were  all  needed  for  the  support  of  de- 
pendent students.  The  denomination  was  not  wealthy  enough 
to  furnish  such  foundations  as  are  now  common.  It  therefore 
became  necessary  for  him  to  put  forth  the  utmost  personal 
efforts,  in  addition  to  all  his  other  duties,  for  gathering  means  to 
defray  current  expenses,  in  behalf  of  those  young  men  whom 
he  was  training  for  the  ministry.  A  laborious  correspondence 
was  carried  on  by  him  for  this  purpose,  running  through  a 
length  of  years.  Not  only  with  the  churches  of  his  own  denomi- 
nation, but  with  Christians  of  various  names,  at  home  and 
abroad,  he  put  forth  strenuous  and  persevering  efforts  for  sus- 
taining and  promoting  a  cause  which  lay  very  near  his  heart, 
and  to  which  he  was  disposed  to  consecrate  every  particle  of 
strength  or  of  influence  which  he  could  command.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  his  letters  very  often  refer  to  this  subject;  and 
many  of  them  are  exclusively  devoted  to  it. 

The  above  plan  for  the  Seminary  was  early  printed  and  dis- 
tributed among  ministers  in  this  country  and  in  Britain,  with  a 
view  to  receive  suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  it  before 
adoption.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Edinburgh,  dated  Aug. 
4th,  180-1,  Mr.  Mnson  writes :  "  Copies  of  a  plan  for  the  Sem- 
inary, printed  with  a  view  to  obtain  the  best  light  on  the  sub- 


DOCTORATE   RECEIVED.  181 

ject,  I  must  trouble  you  to  have  distributed  according  to  direc- 
tion. It  is  my  particular  wish  to  have  the  free  and  deliberate 
opinion  of  every  intelligent  person  to  whom  I  can  have  access, 
and  suggestions  of  whatever  may  tend  to  improve  our  plan  be- 
fore it  be  definitively  acted  upon,  which  will  be  in  May,  1805." 
In  another  letter  to  the  same,  he  saj's ;  "  I  wish  to  obtain  the 
opinions  of  judicious  friends  before  next  spring,  as  our  system 
of  theological  education  will  then  be  finally  settled.  Our  con- 
gregations multiply  so  fast,  that  no  human  hopes  of  meeting 
their  demands  can  be  founded  upon  anything  but  our  Semi- 
nary. It  is  of  immense  moment  and  you  will  see  that  we  are 
not  idle.  I  would  be  glad  if  my  private  fortune  were  such  as 
to  render  salary  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  support  of  m}^ 
family.  I  should  then  disengage  myself  from  a  pastoral  charge 
and  devote  myself  exclusively  to  the  Seminary;  an  object  of 
much  greater  magnitude  in  itself,  and  more  congenial  with  my 
habits  of  mind  than  the  routine  of  congregational  duty.  But 
this  is  not  within  my  reach,  and  I  must  submit  to  the  toil  of 
both." 

About  this  time  Mr.  Mason  was  honoured  with  a  Doctorate  in 
Divinity  by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  His  aged  friend, 
the  Eev.  R.  Annan  comments  on  the  event  with  pleasantry  and 
wit,  in  a  letter  of  June  15th,  180-i. 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

1804. 

DEATH    OF    HAMILTON. 

Interview — Funeral  Oration — Letter  to  a  friend  in  Scotland — Letter  from  Judge 
Marshall — Letter  from  Mr.  Jay — Letter  from  Eev.  James  Hall,  Edinburgh — 
Poem  of  Mrs.  Grant,  of  Laggan. 

The  Summer  of  180-i  was  marked  witli  a  calamity  wliich 
shook  the  continent  almost  like  an  earthquake  :  It  was  the  fall 
of  General  Hamilton.  No  one  was  more  deeply  affected  by 
this  appalling  event  than  Dr.  Mason.  He  had  a  most  solemn 
and  tender  interview  with  that  great  man  after  he  was  shot  by 
Burr,  the  particulars  of  which  were  at  the  time  communicated 
to  the  public  through  the  columns  of  a  respectable  Journal,  and 
have  been  preserved  in  a  volume  entitled  "Coleman's  Collec- 
tion." Though  published  before,  there  are  sufficient  reasons 
for  inserting  them  here  : — 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Commercial  Advertiser: 

Sir:  Having  read,  in  your  paper  of  the  16th,  a  very  imper- 
fect account  of  my  conversation  with  General  Hamilton,  the 
day  previous  to  his  decease,  I  judge  it  my  duty  to  lay  the  fol- 
lowing narrative  before  the  public  : 

On  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  the  11th  inst.,  shortly  after 
the  rumor  of  the  General's  injury  had  created  an  alarm  in  the 
city,  a  note  from  Dr.  Post  informed  me  that  "he  was  extremely 
ill  at  Mr.  William  Bayard's,  and  expressed  a  particular  desire 
to  see  me  as  soon  as  possible."  I  went  immediately.  The  ex- 
change of  melancholy  salutation,  on  entering  the  General's 
apartment,  was  succeeded  by  a  silence  which  he  broke  by  say- 
ing, that  he  had  been  anxious  to  see  me,  and  have  the  sacra- 
ment administered  to  him ;  and  that  this  was  still  his  wish.    I 


CONVERSATION  WITH   GENERAL  HAMILTON.  183 

replied  that  "it  gave  me  unutterable  pain  to  receive  from  him 
any  request  to  which  I  could  not  accede:  that,  in  the  present 
instance,  a  compliance  was  incompatible  with  all  my  obliga- 
tions ;  as  it  is  a  principle  in  our  churches  never  to  administer 
the  Lord's  Supper  privately  to  any  person  under  any  circum- 
stances." He  urged  me  no  further.  I  then  remarked  to  him, 
that,  "the  holy  communion  is  an  exhibition  and  pledge  of  the 
mercies  which  the  Son  of  God  has  purchased ;  that  the  absence 
of  the  sign  does  not  exclude  from  the  mercies  signified,  which 
were  accessible  to  him  by  faith  in  their  gracious  Author."  "  I 
am  aware,"  said  he,  "  of  that.  It  is  only  as  a  sign  that  I  want- 
ed it."  A  short  pause  ensued.  I  resumed  the  discourse,  by 
observing  that  "  I  had  nothing  to  address  to  him  in  his  afflic- 
tion, but  that  same  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  which  it  is  my  office 
to  preach  to  the  most  obscure  and  illiterate :  that  in  the  sight 
of  God,  all  men  are  on  a  level,  as  all  have  siiined  and  come  short 
of  his  glory  ;  and  that  they  must  apply  to  him  for  pardon  and 
life  as  sinners^  whose  only  refuge  is  in  his  grace  reigning  by 
righteousness  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ^  "  I  perceive  it  to 
be  so,"  said  he  ;  "I  am  a  sinner  :  I  look  to  his  mercy."  I  then 
adverted  to  "the  infinite  merit  of  the  Eedeemei',  as  the  propi- 
tiation for  sin.  the  sole  ground  of  our  acceptance  with  God  ;  the 
sole  channel  of  his  favour  to  us  ;  and  cited  the  following  pas- 
ges  of  scripture  :  There  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven  among 
■men^  whereby  we  must  be  saved,  but  the  name  of  Jesus.  He  is  able 
to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  who  come  unto  God  by  him,  seeing  he 
ever  liueth  to  make  intercession  for  them.  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
clean seth  from  cdl  sz'?i."  This  last  passage  introduced  the  affair 
of  the  duel,  on  which  I.  reminded  the  General,  that  he  was  not 
to  be  instructed  as  to  its  moral  aspect,  that  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ  was  as  effectual  and  as  necessary  to  wash  away  the  trans- 
gression Avhich  had  involved  him  in  suffering,  as  any  other 
transgression  ;  and  that  he  must  there,  and  there  alone,  seek 
peace  for  his  conscience,  and  a  hope  that  should  "  not  mcdce  him 
ashamed.''''  He  assented,  with  strong  emotion,  to  these  represen- 
tations, and  declared  his  abhorrence  of  the  whole  transaction. 
"It  was  always,"  added  he,  " against  my  principles.  I  used 
every  expedient  to  avoid  the  interview  ;  but  I  have  found,  for 
some  time  past,  that  ray  life  must  be  exposed  to  that  man.     I 


184  COXYEIISATION   "WITH   GENEPvAL   HAMILTON. 

went  to  the  field  determined  not  to  take  liis  life."  He  repeated 
his  disavowal  of  all  intention  to  liurt  Mr,  Burr  ;  the  anguish  of 
his  mind  in  recollecting  what  had  passed  ;  and  his  humble  hope 
of  forgiveness  from  his  God.  I  recurred  to  the  topic  of  the 
divine  compassions ;  the  freedom  of  pardon  in  the  Redeemer 
Jesus  to  perishing  sinners.  *'That  grace,  mj  dear  General, 
which  brings  salvation,  is  rich,  rich" — "  Yes,"  interrupted  he, 
"  it  is  rich  grace."  "  And  on  that  grace,"  continued  I,  '•  a  sin- 
ner has  the  highest  encoui'agement  to  repose  his  confidence, 
because  it  is  tendered  to  him  upon  the  surest  foundation  ;  the 
Scripture  testifying  that  ice  have  redemption  throvgh  the  blood  of 
Jesus^  the  forgiveness  of  sins  according  to  the  riches  of  his  graced 
Here  the  General,  letting  go  my  hand,  which  he  had  held  from 
the  moment  I  sat  down  at  his  bedside,  clasped  his  hands  togeth- 
er, and,  looking  up  towards  heaven,  said,  with  emphasis,  "  I 
have  a  tender  reliance  on  the  mercy  of  the  Almighty,  through 
the  merits  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  replaced  his  hand  in 
mine,  and  appearing  somewhat  spent,  closed  his  eyes.  A  little 
after,  he  fastened  them  on  me,  and  I  proceeded.  "  The  simple 
truths  of  the  gospel,  my  dear  Sir,  which  require  no  abstruse  in- 
vestigations, but  faith  in  the  veracity  of  God  who  cannot  lie, 
are  best  suited  to  your  present  condition,  and  they  are  full  of 
consolation."  "I  feel  them  to  be  so,"  replied  he.  I  then  re- 
peated these  texts  of  Scripture  :  It  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy 
of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners, and  of  sinners  the  chief.  I,  even  T,  am  he  that  hlotteih  out 
thy  transgressions  for  mine  own  saJce,  and  loill  not  remember  thy 
sins.  Come  noio,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord  ;  though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  luJiite  as  snow  ;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  ivool.  "  This,"  said  he,  "is  m}'- 
support.  Pray  for  me,"  "  Shall  I  pray  with  you  ?"  "  Yes," 
I  prayed  with  him,  and  heard  him  whisper  as  I  went  along ; 
which  I  supposed  to  be  his  concurrence  with  the  petitions.  At 
the  conclusion  he  said,  "  Amen.     God  grant  it." 

Being  about  to  part  with  him,  I  told  him,  "  I  had  one  re- 
quest to  make."  He  asked  "  what  it  was?"  I  answered,  "  that 
whatever  might  be  the  issue  of  his  affliction,  he  would  give  his 
testimony  against  the  practice  of  duelling."  "  I  will,"  said  he, 
"I have  done  it.     If  that,''^  evidently  anticipating  the  event, 


rUXERAL    ORATION.  185 

"  if  that\)i  the  issue,  yoa  will  find  it  in  writing.  If  it  please 
God  that  I  recover,  I  shall  do  it  in  a  manner  which  will  elTect- 
iially  put  me  out  of  its  reach  in  future."  I  mentioned,  once 
more,  the  importance  of  renouncing  every  other  dependence  for 
the  eternal  world,  but  the  mercy  of  Grod  in  Christ  Jesus ;  with 
a  particular  reference  to  the  catastrophe  of  the  morning.  The 
General  was  affected,  and  said,  "  Let  us  not  pursue  the  subject 
any  further,  it  agitates  me."  He  laid  his  hands  upon  his  breast, 
with  symptoms  of  uneasiness,  which  indicated  an  increased 
difficulty  of  speaking.  I  then  took  my  leave.  He  pressed  my 
hand  affectionately,  and  desired  to  see  me  again  at  a  proper 
interval.  As  I  was  retiring,  he  lifted  up  his  hands  in  the  atti- 
tude of  prayer,  and  said  feebly,    "  God  be  merciful  to ." 

His  voice  sunk,  so  that  I  heard  not  the  rest  distinctly,  but  under" 
stood  him  to  quote  the  words  of  the  publican  in  the  gospel,  and 
to  end  the  sentence  with  "  me  a  sinner." 

I  saw  him  a  second  time  on  the  morning  of  Thursday;  but 
from  his  appearance,  and  what  I  had  heard,  supposing  that  he 
could  not  speak  without  severe  effort,  I  had  no  conversation 
with  him.  I  prayed  for  a  moment  at  his  bedside,  in  company 
with  his  overwhelmed  family  and  friends  ;  and  for  the  rest,  was 
one  of  the  mourning  spectators  of  his  composure  and  dignity  in 
suffering.  His  mind  remained  in  its  former  state  ;  and  he 
viewed  with  calmness,  his  approaching  dissolution.  I  left  him 
between  twelve  and  one,  and  at  two,  as  the  public  know,  he 
breathed  his  last. 

I  am  Sir, 

With  much  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  M.  MASON. 
New  Yoke,  July  18th,  1804. 

On  the  31st  of  the  same  month,  he  pronounced  his  "Oration 
commemorative  of  the  late  Major-General  Alexander  Hamilton, 
before  the  New  York  State  Society  of  Cincinnati."  This  pro- 
duction is  so  well  known  that  we  need  to  repeat  only  its  faithful 
and  impressive  close: 

"My  countrymen,  the  land  is  defiled  with  blood  unrighteously 
shed.     Its  cr}^,  disregarded  on  earth,  has  gone  up  to  the  throne 


186  HIS   ESTIMATE   OF   HAMILTON. 

of  God  ;  and  this  day  does  our  punishment  reveal  our  sin.  It 
is  time  for  us  to  awake.  The  voice  of  moral  virtue,  the  voice 
of  domestic  alarm,  the  voice  of  the  fatherless  and  widow,  the 
voice  of  a  nation's  wrong,  the  voice  of  Hamilton's  blood,  the 
voice  of  impending  judgment,  calls  for  a  remedy.  At  this 
hour,  Heaven's  high  reproof  is  sounding  from  Maine  to  Georgia, 
and  from  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. If  we  refuse  obedience,  every  drop  of  blood  spilled  in 
single  combat  will  lie  at  our  door,  and  will  be  recompensed 
when  our  cup  is  full.  We  have  then  our  choice,  either  to 
remove  iniquity,  or  prepare  for  desolation ;  and  in  the  mean 
time,  to  make  our  nation,  though  infant  in  years,  yet  mature  in 
vice,  the  scorn  and  the  abhorrence  of  civilized  man  ! 

"  Fathers,  friends,  countrymen  1  the  dying  breath  of  Hamilton 
recommended  to  you  the  Christian's  hope.  His  single  testi- 
mony outweighs  all  the  cavils  of  the  sciolist,  and  all  the  jeers 
of  the  profane.  Who  will  venture  to  pronounce  a  fable,  that 
doctrine  of  life  and  immortality  which  his  profound  and  irradiat- 
ing mind  embraced  as  the  truth  of  God  ?  When  you  are  to 
die,  you  will  find  no  source  of  peace  but  in  the  faith  of  Jesus. 
Cultivate  for  your  present  repose  and  your  future  consolation, 
what  our  departed  friend  declared  to  be  the  support  of  his 
expiring  moments  :  '  A  tender  reliance  upon  the  mercies  of  the 
Almighty,  through  the  merits  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clirist.' 

"Hamilton!  we  will  cherish  thy  memory,  we  will  embalm 
thy  fame!  Fare  thee  well,  thou  unparalleled  man,  farewell 
forever !" 


Associated  with  General  Hamilton  by  ties  of  intimate  friend- 
ship, and  almost  transported  with  admiration  for  his  talents  and 
his  character,  he  lamented  his  loss  as  an  irreparable  calamity. 
His  feelings  are  expressed,  not  only  in  his  oration,  but  in  many 
of  his  private  letters.  To  a  correspondent  in  Scotland,  under 
date  of  Aug.  11,  180-1,  he  says:  "News  I  have  none  but  what 
the  papers  will  have  announced  before  this  reaches  you  ;  mclan" 
choly,  most  melancholy  news  fo^:  America,  the  premature  death 
of  her  greatest  man,  Major-General  Hamilton.  I  say  nothing 
too  strong  when  I  assure  you,  that,  all  things  considered,  tlie 
loss  of  Washington  was  light  in  comparison  with  this.     His 


PUBLIC  DEMONSTRATIONS.  187 

most  stupendous  talents  wliich  set  him  above  rivalsbip,  and  his 
integrity  with  which  intrigue  had  not  the  hardihood  to  tamper, 
held  him  up  as  the  nation's  hope,  and  as  the  terror  of  the  un- 
principled; but  it  marked  him  out.  at  the  same  time,  as  a 
victim  to  the  disappointed  and  profligate  ambition  of  Vice- 
President  Burr.  By  the  most  insidious  and  cruel  artifice  he 
was  entrapped,  against  his  judgment,  his  conscience,  and  his 
eflbrts,  in  a  duel  with  that  desperate  man,  and  mortally  wounded. 
The  catastrophe  happened  on  the  morning  of  the  lltb,  and  he 
expired  at  2  o'clock  on  the  12th  ult.  The  shock  and  agony  of 
the  public  mind  has  never  been  equalled.  Burr  went  out 
determined  to  kill  him  ;  for  he  had  been  long  qualifying  him- 
self to  become  a  ^'■dead  shot."  Ingenuous  Hamilton  went  out  to 
be  murdered ;  being  as  ignorant  of  the  pistol  as  myself,  and  had 
resolved  not  to  take  the  life  of  his  antagonist  even  if  it  were  in 
liis  power.  The  cry  of  lamentation  and  indignation  assails  Burr 
from  every  point  of  the  compass ;  nor  can  he  turn  his  eye  any 
where,  without  reading  his  own  infamy  in  the  honours  heaped 
upon  the  illustrious  dead.  The  pamphlet  which  accompanies 
this,  will  show  what  part  has  fallen  to  myself" 

Tn  another  letter  he  writes:  "The  greatest  statesman  in  the 
western  world,  perhaps  the  greatest  man  of  the  age,  has  been 
cut  off  in  the  48th  year  of  his  life  by  the  murderous  arm  of 
Vice-President  Burr.  The  death  of  Major-General  Alexander 
Hamilton  has  created  a  waste  in  the  sphere  of  intellect  and  probity, 
which  a  century  will  hardly  fill  up.  He  has  left  none  like  him  ; 
no  second,  no  third,  nobody  to  put  us  in  mind  of  him.  You  can 
have  no  conception  of  such  a  man,  unless  you  knew  him. 
One  burst  of  grief  and  indignation  assails  his  murderer  from 
every  corner  of  the  continent.  Political  enemies  vie  with  friends 
in  heaping  honours  upon  his  memory.  But  he  is  gone.  The 
coroner's  inquest  have  reported  their  verdict,  wilful  murder  by 
Aaron  J3urr  ;  yet  from  some  peculiarities  of  local  jurisdiction' 
it  is  doubtful  whether  he  can  be  brought  to  punishment.  The 
Lord  reigneth  ;  let  the  earth  rejoice  !" 

The  most  respectful  notices  of  Dr.  Mason's  eulogy  on  Hamil- 
ton appeared  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  following  two,  considering  their  sources,  are  of  more 
than  common  value  : — 


188  TESTIMONIALS  OF  RESPECT. 

FllOM  CHIEF -JUSTICE  MARSHALL  TO  DR.  M. 

Richmond,  Nov.  4,  1804. 
Sir  :  Accept  my  acknowledgments  for  the  gratification  de- 
rived from  reading  the  oration  you  have  been  so  obliging  as  to 
enclose  me.  I  lament  sincerely  the  loss  of  the  great  man  whose 
character  you  have  drawn  so  well.  While  I  truly  deplore  his 
fate,  I  may  be  permitted  to  indulge  a  hope  that  it  may  have 
some  tendency  to  cast  odium  on  a  practice  which  deserves  every 
censure  you  have  bestowed  upon  it. 

You  have  mentioned  two  facts  of  which  I  had  never  hcard- 
The  one  is  the  jiart  he  took  in  producing  the  commercial  meet, 
ing  at  Baltimore  which  preceded  the  convention  at  Philadel- 
phia. The  other,  which  is,  indeed,  characteristic  of  General 
Hamilton,  is  his  resignation  of  the  emoluments  his  military 
services  gave  him  a  right  to  claim. 

With  great  respect,  I  am.  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  MARSHALL. 

MR.  JAY  TO  DR.  M. 

Bedford,  Aug.  15,  1804. 

Dear  Sir:  I  yesterday  received  the  "Oration  commemora- 
tive of  the  late  Major- General  A.  Hamilton,"  which  you  was  so 
obliging  as  to  send  me. 

Considering  the  talents  of  the  author,  and  the  merits  of  the 
subject,  it  could  not  fail  of  being  exceedingly  interesting. 

The  public  have  indeed  sustained  a  great  loss ;  and  they  ap- 
pear to  me  to  be  very  sensible  of  it. 

In  a  letter  to  3^ou,  who  knew  him  so  well,  I  forbear  to  en- 
large on  these  topics ;  especially  as  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  treated  in  the  oration  renders  it  unnecessary.  That  he  died 
a  Christian,  is  an  important  as  well  as  a  consoling  circumstance. 

If  I  should  go  to  New  York  the  ensuing  autumn,  as  I  pur- 
pose to  do,  I  shall  not  omit  that  opportunity  of  seeing  you;  and 
should  anything  call  you  this  way,  let  me  request  the  favour  of 
a  visit.  It  will  always  give  me  pleasure  to  manifest  the  respect 
and  esteem  with  which  I  am.  Dear  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  JAY. 

A  more  elaborate  acknowledgment  came  from  Mrs.  Grant,  of 
Laggan,  whose  early  residence  among  the  Schuylcrs  on  the 


POEM  BY  MRS.   GRANT.  189 

Flats,  above  Albany,  had  prepared  her  to  feel  deeply  on  the 
melancholy  subject.  It  came  in  a  letter  from  the  Eev.  James 
Hall,  of  Edinburgh,  under  date  of  Dec.  7,  1804.  He  wrote 
thus :  "  I  enclose,  addressed  to  you,  a  Poem  from  my  friend, 
and  your  warm  admirer,  Mrs.  Grrant.  It  is  a  tribute  of  respect 
to  the  memory  of  the  dear  departed  Hamilton,  and  of  gratitude 
to  you  for  that  noble  effusion  of  eloquence,  of  patriotism,  and 
of  friendship,  by  which,  in  your  Funeral  Oration,  you  endea- 
vour to  do  justice  to  his  talents  and  his  virtues.  Not  only  has 
America,  but  the  world,  sustained  an  incalculable  loss  in  the 
removal  of  such  a  man  from  that  stage  on  which  he  might  have 
been  expected  long  to  act  a  conspicuous  part.  I  return  you  my 
thanks  for  the  copy  with  which  you  have  favoured  me.  Every- 
body here  praises  its  contents." 

In  addition  to  those  gleams  of  poetic  beauty  and  noble  senti- 
ment which  appear  in  these  verses,  every  reader  will  be  agreea- 
bly surprised  by  the  unexpected,  but  natural  allusion  to  the 
author's  acquaintance  with  Mrs.  Hamilton,  when 

" in  early  childhood's  careless  days, 


On  Hudson's  banks  we  traced  the  sportive  maze." 

Nor  will  any  further  explanation  be  needed  by  such  as  have 
read  the  "]\[emoirs  of  an  American  Lady."  We  give  the  be- 
ginning and  the  close  of  this  effusion  : — 

ADDRESS  TO  DR.  MASON  ON  READING  BIS  ORATION  ON  THE  DEATH 
OF  GENERAL  HAMILTON. 
From  Scotia's  heath-clad  hills  and  winding  vales, 
Where  health  and  freedom  sport  on  gelid  gales, 
"Where  nature's  music  cheered  the  pastoral  plains, 
And  mountains  echoed  Os?ian's  lofty  strains. 
From  whose  deep  glens,  like  boreal  lights,  break  forth 
Unconquer'd  valour,  and  unequal'd  worth, — 
Accept,  O  Mason,  from  a  muse  unknown, 
The  meed  of  praise  peculiarly  thy  own  ; 
When  to  th'  illustrious  dead  thy  lips  dispense 

The  tribute  pure  of  matchless  eloiiuence 

While  weeping  nations  catch  the  solemn  sound. 
And  pious  sorrow  bows  in  awe  profound, 
Deep  in  my  heart  I  feel  thy  power  confest. 
And  sad  emotion  heaves  my  labouring  breast ; 
In  the  strong  painting  of  thy  nervous  strain, 
Til'  exulted  patriot  here  lives  again. 


190  POETIC  REMINISCENCE. 

Again  he  thunders  thro'  the  ranks  of  war, 
Again  his  genius  dignifies  the  bar  ; 
Again  his  beams  of  radiant  glory  clear 
Arise  to  light  the  western  hemisphere, 
Mild  as  the  dewy  morn  of  infant  May, 
Serene  as  evening  Cynthia's  cloudless  ray  ; 
Again  the  social  hour  he  seems  to  cheer  ; 
Again  those  ties  that  sweeten  life,  endear, 
Amidst  the  filial  tribe,  delighted,  move, 
Or  on  his  consort,  smile  superior  love. 


But  ah  !  can  fame  or  honour's  balm  impart 
To  heal  the  anguish  of  a  widow'd  heart  ? 
Where  docs  the  plant  of  sovereign  virtue  grow. 
Whose  juice  oblivious  lulls  unceasing  woe  ? 
For  thee,  Eliza,""  sympathy  in  vain, 
Would  steep  iu  te  irs  her  saddest,  sweetest  strain.     • 
Tho'  other  hearts  in  hopeless  sorrow  pine, 
Alas !  what  griefs  can  boast  to  equal  thine  ? 
Who,  midst  a  grateful  people's  loud  acclaim, 
Mov'd  in  the  brightness  of  thy  consort's  fame  ; 
By  him  in  honour  and  in  safety  stood. 
Then,  instant  saw  thy  glory  quench'd  in  blood  ! 
What  wondrous  changes  has  thy  fate  display'd. 
What  strong  vicissitudes  of  light  and  shade. 
Since  first  in  early  childhood's  careless  days 
On  Hudson's  banks  we  trac'd  the  sportive  maze  ! 
Alas,  since  there  with  thee  in  happier  hours, 
I  decked  my  artless  breast  with  native  flowers, 
What  strong  convulsions  rend  the  labouring  world  ! 
Wide  empires  rent,  and  thrones  in  ruin  hurl'd  ! 
And  ancient  faith,  and  ancient  laws  o'erthrown, 
And  tottering  States  resounding  misery's  groan  ! 
Here  patriot  chiefs  o'er  dying  freedom  mourn  ; 
There  private  griefs  the  heart-felt  sighs  return  ; 
Not  all  the  woes  that  sadly  thus  combine, 
E'er  wak'd  more  wide,  more  general  grief  than  thine. 
No  corpse  was  e'er  with  fairer  flowers  adorn'd, 
More  justly  honour'd,  or  more  deeply  mourn'd  ; 
Nor  ere  to  deck  a  soul-exalting  theme. 
Did  elocution  pour  so  rith  a  stream. 

Yet  once  again,  much  honoured  jMason,  rise. 
While  Scotia  hears  thy  strain  witli  kindling  eyes; 
And  wliili;  slie  fondly  cries,  •'Tbisehief  was  mine," 
Uh,  bid  the  laurel  with  the  thistle  twine. 

o  Elizabeth  Srhuyh'r,  (huightorof  General  Philip  Schuyler  of  Albany,  and  wife 
of  Geueralllamilton. 


ADDRESS  ON  DUELLING.  191 

Tell  to  what  ancient  race  his  Wood  he  ow'd, 
And  from  what  land  the  generous  current  How'd. 
So  shall  his  Island-kindred  proudly  boast, 
What  shining  worth  in  Hamilton  they  lost. 
So  shall  the  unknown  muse  exulting  tell, 
'Twas  Mason  spoke  that  peerless  worth  so  well, 
That  Scottish  genius  won  unrivall'd  praise, 
And  Scottish  hands  cntvvia'd  the  mournful  bays. 
"WooDEXD,  7th  Nov.,  1804. 

The  death  of  General  Ilarnilton  led  to  a  variety  of  measures 
for  the  suppression  of  duelling ;  among  others  to  the  "Anti- 
Duelling  Association  of  Kew  York."  In  behalf  of  this  asso- 
ciation Dr.  Mason  was  induced  to  prepare  an  address  for  general 
circulation,  and  thus  aiding  to  correct  the  prevailing  tone  of 
public  sentiment  on  the  subject.  Though  much  of  its  interest 
at  the  time  sprung  out  of  the  occasion  which  called  it  forth,  it 
embodies  many  considerations  which  can  never  lose  their  im- 
portance, and  which  must  always  be  a  great  weight  with  the 
reflecting  part  of  the  communit3^  A  change  of  public  senti- 
ment on  duelling,  is  an  important  element  in  the  history  of  this 
State;  and  everything  which  may  have  contributed  to  this 
change,  deserves  notice.  The  impression  of  all  such  measures 
is  first  upon  the  serious  and  thoughtful ;  and  from  them  it  ex- 
tends to  a  wider  circle,  till  it  pervades  the  whole  community. 
The  paper  in  question,  however,  is  too  long  for  insertion,  and 
too  condensed  for  abridgment.  Its  principle  was  a  united  pledge 
by  the  subscribers  to  withhold  their  suffrages  for  political  sta- 
tions from  all  persons  concerned  in  duels,  either  as  principals  or 
seconds.  This  pledge  was  very  extensively  circulated  and 
signed,  and  is  supposed  to  have  had  great  effect  in  forming  a 
public  sentiment  on  the  subject.  In  this  instance,  at  least,  a 
public  pledge  was  useful  in  strengthening  resolution  and  com- 
binino^  influence. 


CnAPTER   XVI. 
ISOl,  From  July. 

COIIRESPOXDKNCE. 

Letter  to  the  Rev.  R.  Kerr — Letter  to  Henry  Thornton,  Esq.,  London — Hints 
to  a  Young  Minister — Letter  to  Mrs.  Brown — Letter  to  the  Rev.  William 
Carey,  Calcutta — Letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Davidson,  Edinburgh — Letter  to  ^Irs.  Dr. 
Yarich — Letter  to  the  Rev.  James  Lamie — Letter  to  the  Rev.  A.  Calderhead — 
Letter  to  the  Rev.  R.  Anna,n — Letter  to  Miss  Ann  Erskine,  Edinburgh. 

The  labours  and  anxieties  of  Dr.  Mason  were  far  from  being 
confined  to  a  single  locality.  Of  few  could  it  be  more  truly 
said,  as  it  had  been  said  of  another,  that  the  care  of  all  the 
churches  came  upon  him.  From  the  position  which  he  occu- 
pied in  his  denomination,  he  surveyed  a  wide  field,  and  felt  an 
intense  desire  that  no  part  of  it  should  be  neglected.  With 
this  view  be  did  what  he  could  to  form  the  policy  and  measures 
of  the  judicatories  on  a  comprehensive  scale,  and  then  to  have 
their  regulations  and  appointments  strictly  observed.  Most 
thoroughly  convinced  that  no  efficiency  could  be  expected 
without  the  rigid  observance  of  rules,  he  could  not  but  feel 
pained  at  any  deviation  from  them.  This  was  the  basis  of  that 
zeal  for  church  order  which  appears  in  the  following  communi- 
cation. This  communication,  moreover,  affords  some  insight 
into  the  history  of  the  times,  especially  by  showing  us  the 
state  of  remote  churches,  with  the  nature  of  their  difficulties 
and  discouragements: — 

TO  THE  REV.  ROP-ERT  KERR. 

Ni;w  YoitK.  July  Cth.  180  k 

;My  Dear  Brother:  Enclosed  you  have  the  necessary  ex- 
tracts from  the  minutes  of  our  Presbytery.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  the  counteriDanding  the  appointmeat  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York  in  your  case  should  excite  some  uneasiness  in  3'our  mind; 


CLAIMS  OF   SOUTHERJSr  CHURCHES.  193 

as  it  deranges,  of  course,  plans,  to  the  execution  of  wbicli  your 
measures,  for  some  time  past,  have  been  directed.  Be  assured, 
liovvever,  that  your  recent  appointments  by  the  general  Synod 
proceeded  from  circumstances  which  left  little  or  nothing  to 
their  discretion.  No  subject  gave  them  so  much  trouble,  or 
consumed  so  much  of  their  time,  as  the  distribution  of  the  few 
unsettled  ministers  and  probationers. 

The  statistical  tables  show  that  the  Presbytery  of  Washing- 
ton, having  nine  ministers,  is  less  embarrassed  than  either  the 
Presbytery  of  Monongahela,  Kentucky,  or  those  in  the  Caro- 
linas.  These  last  had  superior  claims ;  because  their  hands 
have  been  much  weakened  by  the  desertion  of  Messrs.  McMil- 
lan and  Dickson ;  because  they  have  to  bear  the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day  in  resisting  the  demands  of  hostile  prejudices 
which  vex  their  congregations  more  than  those  of  any  other 
Presbytery ;  and  because  of  the  seven  brethren  who  came  in 
from  Scotland  they  have  obtained  none.  Washington,  Phila- 
delphia, Monongahela,  New  York,  Kentucky,  all  have  their 
share;  while  the  discouraged  and  convulsed  Presbyteries  of  the 
Carolinas  have  been  passed  by.  Their  wants  were  urgent, 
their  remonstrances  strong,  and  no  possible  expedient  to 
accommodate  them  could  be  devised  vi'ithout  a  portion  of  your 
labours.  Your  intentions,  so  far  as  known,  were  stated,  and  no 
man  but  wished  to  have  gratified  you.  It  was  understood  in 
Synod  that  your  destination  is  to  Kentucky ;  nor  was  your 
transfer  to  the  Carolinas  designed  as  a  substitute.  You  can 
make  the  tour,  and  if  your  present  resolution  remain,  the 
brethren,  I  am  persuaded,  will  oppose  no  unreasonable  obstacle 
to  its  accomplishment.  Your  route  will  be  through  the  interior, 
by  which  you  will  escape  many  of  the  unhealthy  tracts.  I 
I  do  not  see  in  our  brethren  that  sallowness  which  marks  the 
inhabitants  of  the  feverish  districts.  Particular  directions, 
which  I  cannot  furnish,  await  you  at  Greencastle;  and  your 
expense  will  be  less  than  j^ou  imagine,  as  you  will  find  stations 
for  every  week,  or  nearly  so,  among  our  own  vacancies.  The 
principle  of  fulfilling  appointments,  which  is  always  and  essett- 
tially  important,  acquires,  in  the  present  instance,  so  much 
additional  force  from  your  own  situation  and  that  of  the 
18 


194  CHRISTIAN   FAMILIES  IN  ENGLAND. 

Carolinian  Presbyteries,  that  I  hope   you  will  not  think   of 
neglecting  it. 

The  large  and  respectful  assemblies  which  have  attended  . 
lately  upon  your  ministrations,  afford  me  much  pleasure,  and 
have  not  been,  I  trust,  without  consolation  to  your  own  soul. 
A  life  of  close  dependence  upon  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus, 
is  the  onlv  safe  and  comfortable  life.  Dear  brother  Kerr,  re- 
member his  words,  his  heart-reviving  words,  "I  have  prayed 
for  thee,"  not  that  thy  feet  slip  not,  but  that  "  thj  faith  fail  not ; 
and  when  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  hretliren  .^"  Go, 
then,  "in  his  name  and  strength,  making  mention  of  his 
righteousness,  even  of  his  onZ^."  And  may  his  "peace  which 
passeth  all  understanding,  keep  your  heart  and  mind;"  and 
may  he  water  the  seed  which  he  honours  you  to  sow,  with  his 
quickening  blessing,  that  it  may  spring  up  and  bring  forth  fruit, 
in  some  thirty,  in  some  sixty,  and  in  some  an  hundred  fold. 
So  prays  your  brother  in  the  Lord,  ko,. 


DR.  M.  TO  MR.  THORNTON,  LONDON. 

New  York,  July  25tb,  1804 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  very  acceptable  present  of  the  second 
volume  of  Mr.  Gisborne's  Sermons,  lately  received,  converted 
into  a  duty  the  inclination  I  have  long  had  to  repeat  by  letter 
my  sense  of  my  obligations  to  your  friendship  when  in  London. 
Your  many  and  important  public  and  private  occupations,  cre- 
ated a  doubt  which  is  now  removed,  whether  my  correspon- 
dence might  not  be  intrusive. 

I  shall  ever  account  it  one  of  the  happiest  circumstances  of 
my  life,  that  I  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  in  the  families 
of  some  of  the  opulent  and  honourable  of  the  British  nation, 
the  beautiful  simplicity  of  Christian  character.  Names  may 
distinguish,  and  oceans  divide ;  but  it  is  most  consolatory  to 
know,  and  to  see,  that  believers  in  Jesus  of  every  name  and 
every  nation  drinh  into  one  spirit.  Delightful  is  their  fellow- 
ship here,  and  triumphant  the  hope  that  their  voices  will  one  day 
be  mingled  without  a  discordant  note,  and  without  a  jealous 
emotion.  Perhaps  the  reasons  will  then  be  disclosed,  in  an 
ample  and  satisfactory  manner,  why  all  who  love  our  Lord 


NECESSITY  OF   UNITING  OFFICES.  195 

Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,  do  not  more  perfectly  coincide  in  ihfiir 
views  of  subordinate  questions.  In  the  mean  time,  we  may  re- 
joice that  on  the  essential  question,  What  think  ye  of  Christ? 
they  have  but  one  opinion,  and  one  feeling. 

The  Seminar}'  which  you  honoured  with  your  liberal  patron- 
age, has  latel}^  been  instituted;  and  the  charge,  the  weighty 
charge  of  directing  it,  been  devolved  upon  myself  I  shall  not 
enter  formally  upon  the  new  duties  imposed  by  this  appoint- 
ment, for  a  year  to  come;  as  it  is  almost  impossible  to  pass  im- 
mediately from  ordinary  pastoral  functions,  to  labours  so  dif. 
ferent  and  so  arduous,  without  danger  of  mismanagement.  Ar- 
duous they  certainly  will  be  to  me,  as  the}'  are  added  to  my 
parochial  employments.  They  ought  to  fill  up,  exclusively,  the 
time  of  the  man  who  ventures  upon  them;  but  such  an  arrange- 
ment is  impracticable  in  the  state  of  our  churches.  They  will 
have  your  sympathy,  when  I  inform  you  that  they  would  find 
it  very  difficult,  at  present,  to  support  their  establishment  with- 
out the  aid  which  a  minister  derives  from  his  private  charge : 
and  that  such  is  the  demand  for  ministers,  that  not  one  wlio  is  at 
all  competent  to  such  a  post,  can  be  spared  from  his  congrega- 
tion ;  his  connexion  with  them  being  the  principal  security  for 
their  contribution  to  the  Seminary.  Greater  obstacles  have 
been  surmounted  than  those  which  remain.  We  owe  to  our 
British  friends  the  ability  of  proceeding  thus  early  with  our 
design.  Their  munificence  deeply  affects  us,  and  is  repaid  with 
the  only  repayment  in  our  power,  our  gratitude  and  our  prayers. 
When  the  effect  of  the  institution  shall  be  felt,  there  is  reason 
to  think  that  our  wishes  will  be  accomplished.  Till  we  can 
appeal  to  the  result,  our  progress  will  necessarily  be  slower,  and 
the  assistance  of  those  who  have  the  means  and  the  disposition 
to  promote  the  diffusion  of  saving  truth,  will  be  of  singular  ser- 
vice, and  applied  in  a  way  which,  we  trust,  will  leave  them  no 
cause  to  regret  their  liberality. 

That  we  do  not  intend  to  make  the  course  of  instruction  in 
our  Seminary  superficial  or  trifling,  will  appear  from  the  en- 
closed. It  contains  an  outline  of  our  plan,  and  is  printed  for 
the  consideration  of  our  ministers  and  others  before  the  next 
meeting  of  our  General  Synod  in  May,  1805.  Shall  I  ask  the 
favour  of  your  showing  it  to  Mr.  Scott,  and  such  other  evangel- 


196  DISTINCT  CHIROGRAPH Y. 

ica]  ministers  as  may  fall  in  your  way,  and  will  not  think  an 
hour  mis-spent  in  suggesting  anything  towards  its  improvement? 

You  will  do  me  the  kindness  to  joresent  my  affectionate  re- 
gards to  Mrs.  Thornton  and  fiimily.  I  retain  a  strong  impres- 
sion of  the  attentions  of  Mr.  Wilberforce,  and  Mr.  Grant ;  and 
shall  be  happy  to  tell  them  so,  if  acceptable. 

Through  the  Divine  mercy,  our  city  is  hitherto  free  from 
dangerous  fever.  The  weather  is  charming :  health  prevails, 
and  we  flatter  ourselves  with  escape  from  our  scourge.  Would 
to  God  that  we  had  grace  to  recognize  his  hand  in  sparing  and 
punishing,  and  to  return  to  Ilim,  as  we  have  deeply  revolted 
from  Him. 

Accept,  dear  Sir,  my  best  wishes  for  your  welfare,  and  be- 
lieve me  to  be,  with  unfeigned  esteem,  Your's,  &c. 


Some  rules  for  ministers  are  delicately  suggested  in  a  few 
hints  to  one  of  those  young  brethren  whom  he  hoped  to  receive 
from  Scotland : — 

TO    THE    REV.  WILLIAM  WILSON. 

New  Yobk,  Aug.  9,  1804. 

My  Dear  William  :  Between  a  host  of  accusations  for  epis- 
tolary crimes,  and  a  counter-host  of  vindications,  I  have  no 
heart  left  for  apologizing  to  you.  And  if  I  had,  you  would 
probably  think  the  apology,  the  only  one  I  would  make,  as  in- 
convenient as  I  am  sure  the  hint  is  necessary.  In  fact,  it  would 
be  this,  that  I  cannot  afford  to  write  to  you  oftener  than  once 
in  two  or  three  j'cars,  as  I  lose  more  time  in  studying  your  lingo, 
than  in  penning  half-a-dozen  letters.  If  you  had  been  so  consid- 
erate as  to  have  sent  me  an  alphahet^  the  evil  would  have  been  less. 
Seriously,  my  friend,  you  will  hereafter  discover  it  to  be  of  more 
importance  than  you  now  perhaps  imagine,  to  acquire  a  distinct 
liandwriting.  If  you  live,  which  our  God  grant,  to  advance  far  in 
life,  you  will  experience  much  difficulty  from  a  small  and  careless 
hand.  Write  larger,  and  more  legibly.  The  advice  is  of  the 
more  weight  because  it  is  not  original.  It  was  a  suggestion  of 
my  father,  to  whom,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  his  manuscripts 
had  become  useless. 


GOOD   BREEDING.  197 

Your  friend,  Mr.  ■ ,  who  arrived  in  good  health,  and 

kept  himself  in  good  spirits,  is  labouring  in  a  couple  of 
vacancies,  a  few  miles  from  Father  S.  He  has  stamina,  I 
think,  but  libations  to  the  graces  are  certainly  not  in  the  list  of 
his  offences.  Dear  William,  Avhy  can  you  not  use  the  rasp,  the 
adze,  or  the  broad-axe,  to  your  clerical  timber  ?  Rely  upon  it, 
that  excepting  in  remote  places,  uncouth  and  vulgar  manners 
are  no  where  less  tolerable  than  in  America.  They  are  of  in- 
finite mischief  to  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  must  content 
himself  with  occupying  some  obscure  niche,  if  he  be  unquali- 
fied for  associating  with  the  more  polished  orders  of  society. 

I  am  much  affected  when  I  look  back  on  my  visit  to  Britain. 
My  heart  was  wrung  with  anguish  at  failing  to  obtain  several 
of  the  youths  whom  I  wished  to  accompany  me,  and  who  ought 
to  have  heen  here.  Mr.  Ellis  declining  America,  and  settling  at 
Saltecats  !  I  often  burn  with  impatience  to  disclose  my  private 
convictions ;  but  the  delicacy  and  responsibility  of  public  char- 
acter restrained  my  eagerness,  and  sealed  my  lips.  O,  William, 
William !  Half-a-dozen  of  you  threw  away  opportunities  of 
eminence  and  usefulness,  and  comfort,  which  nothing  but  a  mir- 
acle will  put  within  your  reach  a  second  time!  But,  "Jacta 
est  alea!"     I  must  sigh  and  submit. 

Your  duties,  my  dear  friend,  are  arduous,  but  your  encourage- 
ment is  high.  Live  closely  and  humbly  by  the  faith  of  the  Son 
of  God  for  your  own  soul ;  let  his  precious  grace  breathe  its 
fragrance  through  all  your  ministrations  :  be  sober,  be  vigilant, 
be  faithful,  he  firm,  and  all  shall  be  well.  Y"ou  serve  a  master 
who  will  never  abandon  you  in  an  extremity.  Believe  his  prom- 
ises so  as  to  lay  the  load  of  your  hope  and  of  your  ministry  upon 
them,  and  he  will  be  your  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present 
help  in  the  time  of  trouble.  It  is  impudent  mockery  to  demand 
the  trust  of  others  in  a  Saviour  on  whose  merit  and  strength  we 
have  not  ourselves  adventured.  Y^ou  can  obtain  better  counsel 
than  mine;  yet  let  me  recommend  to  you  the  three  following 
things,  as  comprising  the  substance  of  practical  government: 
1.  Keasonableness.  2.  Firmness,  o.  Uniformity.  Settle  it  in 
your  mind  that  you  must  either  govern  or  be  governed.  ^Mng- 
nify  3^our  oflice,  as  a  ruler  in  the  house  of  God.  Give  your 
people  good  cause  to  believe  that  you  are  able  to  instruct  them 


198  SYMPATHY  WITH  HIS   SISTER. 

—  that  you  will  declare  the  truth ;  and  will  discharge  your  duty. 
Whenever  they  are  fairly  impressed  with  this  opinion  of  you, 
you  will  find  it  not  so  hard  to  preserve  order  and  peace  and  love 
as  many  suppose.  Irregular,  passionate,  petulant  opposition  is  no 
match  for  systematic  principle,  and  must  ultimately  yield.  At 
least  it  will  be  a  very  rare  combination  of  circumstances  that 
can  produce  the  contrary  effect.  Be  mild,  bland,  affectionate, 
condescending.  Seize  proper  opportunities  of  conceding  to 
honest  weakness  and  respectful  wish,  points  which  do  not  touch 
consistency  or  principle ;  for  mankind  are  more  obliged  by 
little  than  by  great  things.  Give  up  nothing  to  impertinence; 
secure  the  understanding  and  conscience  by  the  intrinsic  recti- 
tude of  your  measures  ;  and  your  feet  will  not  soon  be  moved. 
Especially,  instil  into  yonr  youth  the  proper  doctrine  of  the  order 
of  the  Redeemer's  house.  Be  very  select  in  additions  to 
your  Session,  and  let  it  be  a  sacred  rule,  that  no  language  how- 
ever provoking,  nor  any  treatment  however  injurious,  whether 
in  or  out  of  deliberative  bodies,  shall  ruffle  your  temper  f  Watch 
it,  control  it,  keep  it  3^our  servant ;  and  you  are  the  conqueror. 
Excuse  my  officiousness.     It  is  the  officiousness  of  love. 

Ever  yours, 

JOHN  M.  MASON. 

A  very  feeling  letter  of  sympathy  to  his  sister  was  inserted 
in  a  former  chapter.  Another  was  drawn  forth  by  one  from 
Mrs.  Brown  herself,  the  first  she  had  been  able  to  write  him 
since  her  bereavement.  Though  on  the  same  subject,  it  is  of 
too  much  interest  to  be  omitted: — 

TO  MRS.  M.  BROWN. 

New  York,  Aug.  28th,  1804. 

Your  letter,  my  beloved  sister,  arrived  yesterday.  Your 
afiliction  is  our  own.  We  mingle  our  tears  with  yours ;  and 
desire  to  lay  our  hand  upon  our  mouths.  God  is  a  great  God 
who  givcth  to  unhallowed  questionings  no  account  of  any  of  his 
matters:  while  he  has  been  pleased' to  soothe  the  submissive 
heart,  and  to  explain  so  much  of  his  providence  in  his  word  of 
truth  as  may  satisfy  us  that  he  "  doth  not  afllict  willingly  nor 
grieve  the  children  of  men."  In  taking  away  your  sweet  babe, 
he  has  taught  you  another  lesson  of  the  insufficiency  of  created 


AFFLICTIONS  LEADING  TO   CHRIST.  199 

comforts :  graciously  taught  you,  that  "  the  fountain  of  living 
waters  "  can  alone  "satisfy  the  longing  soul,"  and  greatly  do  I 
joy,  and  heartily  bless  his  name,  that  he  has  enabled  you  in 
some  measure  to  bow  to  his  will.  0,  my  sister !  these  stubborn 
spirits  of  ours  must  be  subdued  ;  and  precious,  in  the  midst  of 
grief,  is  that  kindly  acquiescence  in  the  divine  dispensations 
which  sinks  our  choice  in  the  choice  of  our  Father  who  is  in 
Heaven.  Why  should  we  complain?  why  indeed?  We,  who 
are  not  in  the  place  where  his  mercy  "  is  clean  gone  forever  ?" 
We,  who  have  still  a  thousand  comforts  ?  We,  who  have,  in 
no  case,  been  "  dealt  with  after  our  sins,  nor  rewarded  according 
to  our  iniquities  ?"  We,  whom  unwearied  tenderness  has  fol- 
lowed, and  watched,  and  fostered,  through  endless  follies, 
through  steady  ingratitude?  We,  on  whom  the  light  of  reve- 
lation beams,  and  whose  ears  are  every  hour  saluted  by  the  joy- 
ful sound  ?  Ah,  why  should  ive  complain  ?  No,  let  us  "  sing 
of  the  mercies  of  the  Lord  forever."  My  sister,  my  beloved 
sister,  affliction  is  often  the  handmaid  of  peace ;  when  we  lan- 
guish under  the  rod,  infinite  condescension  yields  it  ear.  Na- 
ture must  mourn,  that  we  may  flee  from  its  weakness  into  the 
supporting  grace  of  an  almighty  helper;  and  from  the  guilt 
which  has  caused  its  weakness,  into  his  pardoning  love.  In  the 
voice  of  rebuke,  hear  also  the  voice  of  compassion  ;  "  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest."  There,  there  alone,  my  sister,  in  the  merit  and 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  is  there  relief  for  the  agonizing  con- 
science, and  the  bleeding  heart.  "Come,"  now,  "  and  let  us 
return  to  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  torn,  and  he  will  heal  us ;  he 
hath  smitten,  and  he  will  bind  us  up."  Often  have  I  been  in 
heaviness  on  your  account ;  my  "  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for 
you  "  has  been,  not  that  you  might  be  surrounded  with  earthly 
gratification,  though  his  benignant  hand  has  lavished  this  upon 
you ;  not  that  you  might  bo  caressed  and  honoured,  and  dis- 
tinguished among  our  fellow-worms,  but  "  that  you  might  he 
saveciy  My  bosom  trembles  with  the  hope  that  the  time  to 
favour  you,  even  the  set  time,  is  come,  when  3- ou  shall  pass  under 
the  rod  into  the  bond  of  his  covenant,  and  be  safe  forever. 
When  you  were  about  to  leave  us  for  Kentucky,  I  was  led  to 
pour  out  my  supplications  in  your  behalf:  and  again  and  again 


200  THE   SCEIPTURES  IN  BENGAL. 

Avas  that  promise  concerning  the  church  of  God  impressed,  very 
strongly  impressed,  on  my  mind  concerning  you,  "I  will  lead 
her  into  the  v:ildcrne-ss,  and  there  loill  I  speak  iqwn  her  heart.''^ 
It  is  the  word  upon  which  I  can  hardly  help  thinking,  he  has 
caused  me  to  trust.  I  have  been  looking  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. And  Oh  that  it  may  come  !  O,  that  his  recent  visita- 
tion may  prove  to  have  been  among  his  destined  means  !  How 
will  my  sister  then  acknowledge  that  "his  judgments  are  right, 
and  that  in  faithfulness  he  has  afflicted  her."  Make,  now,  a 
solemn  and  unreserved  surrender  of  yourself  and  your  remain- 
ing little  ones  to  the  Lord  your  God.  May  his  grace  direct  and 
strengthen  you  !  that  you  may  be  able,  in  all  your  future  trials, 
to  say  with  confidence,  "I  hioio  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and 
that  he  is  able  to  keep  what  I  have  committed  unto  him." 

I  need  not  assure  you  of  our  love  to  yourself,  your  dear  hus- 
band, and  your  boys.     Grace  be  with  you  all ! 

Ever  your  affectionate  brother, 

JNO.  M.  MASON. 

A  letter,  thougli  short,  from  Dr.  Mason  to  the  missionary 
William  Carey,  on  an  occasion  which  tenderly  affected  him, 
cannot  be  unacceptable  to  the  friends  of  Missions : — 

TO  THE    REV.  WM.  CAREY,  CALCUTTA. 

New  York,  Sept.  15,  1804. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  refreshing  letter  of  Nov.  0th,  1803, 
was  received  on  the  20th  of  April  last  by  my  friend  Mr.  Smith, 
who,  I  hope,  will  hand  j-ou  this.  Your  present  of  the  Bengal 
Scriptures  I  shall  keep  as  a  memorial,  not  merely  of  Christian 
friendship,  but  of  the  victory  of  the  cross  over  Satan's  kingdom. 
I  cannot  repress  the  tear  of  thankfulness  and  joy,  when  I  re- 
flect that  the  light  of  the  glorious  Gospel  has  shined  and  is 
shining  upon  those  miserable  Pagans  who  were  sitting  in 
darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death.  It  is  an  immense  object 
gained  towards  their  general  conversion.  The  seed  is  sown, 
and  the  hands  of  hell  cannot  tear  it  up.  Ministers  may,  by 
persecution,  be  offered  up  on  the  service  and  sacrifice  of  their 
faith ;  their  blood  may  now,  as  formerly,  seal  their  testimony 
to  the  truth,  and  the  foe  obtain  a  short-lived  triumph ;  but  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  exterminate  a  widely-diffused  edition  of  the 


MISSIONARY  ENCOURAGEMENTS.  201 

Scriptures.  Blessings  on  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  who  has 
put  it  into  the  hearts  of  his  servants  to  attempt,  and  by  his 
providence  enabled  them  to  execute  this  great  work !  And 
blessings  on  the  heads  of  those  servants  to  whom  has  belonged 
the  honoured  instrumentality  !  The  sweetest  of  rewards  which 
can  flow  from  the  consciousness  of  successful  zeal  in  the  best  of 
causes,  is  now  their  privilege;  their  labour  of  love  shall  profit 
the  future  seed  that  "shall  be  accounted  to  the  Lord  for  a  gen- 
eration;" and  they  shall  praise  Him  for  it,  when  they  "declare 
his  righteousness  unto  a  people  that  shall  be  born." 

You  have  heard,  doubtless,  that  a  most  encouraging  impress- 
ion has  been  made  upon  the  Hottentots  by  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Kicherer.  Our  prospects  are  encouraging,  too.  Brother  Holmes 
is  a  faithful, -an  acceptable,  and,  we  trust,  an  useful  missionary. 
The  particulars  3'ou  will  learn  from  the  sermon  which  accom- 
l^anies  this.  One  circumstance  rather  alarming  is,  a  most  cul- 
pable lukewarmness  toward  our  wishes  among  professing  Chris- 
tians. Alas,  it  is  still  a  well-founded  complaint,  "All  seek 
their  own,  not  the  things  which  are  Jesus  Christ's."  The  men 
who  hung  back  at  first  and  put  us  off  with,  "Let  us  see  j^ou  do 
something  and  our  aid  shall  not  be  wanting,"  evince  now,  after 
we  have  been  enabled  to  do  much,  that  their  first  coldness  did 
not  proceed  from  a  conviction  that  our  enterprise  was  chimeri- 
cal, but  from  their  love  of  pelf  and  their  disinclination  to 
part  with  it.  Pray  for  us,  dear  Sir,  that  a  spirit  of  slumber  may 
not  be  poured  out  upon  us.  Your  brethren  in  this  city  are 
well.  Though  far  off,  and  unknown  by  face,  your  person  and 
exertions  are  dear  to  many  among  us ;  and  to  none  more  un- 
feignedly  than  to  your 

Affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

JNO.  M.  MASON. 

One  of  his  esteemed  correspondents  in  Scotland  was  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Davidson  of  Edinburgh.  As  a  specimen  of  the  style  in 
which  they  interchanged  thoughts  with  each  other  respecting 
the  Seminary,  and  the  aspect  of  public  affairs,  we  give  the  fol- 
lowing letter : — 


202  FIRST  STEPS  DIFFICULT. 

TO  DR.  DAVIDSON. 

New  York,  Oct.  4,  1804. 

I  AM  sensible,  my  dear  Sir,  that  the  state  of  my  correspond- 
ence with  friends  to  whom  I  cannot  repay  my  obligations,  and 
from  whom  nothing  can  alienate  my  affections,  wears  an  ungra- 
cious appearance.  On  my  return  home  I  was  so  involved  in 
various  business  as  to  render  a  prompt  and  regular  attention  to 
correspondents  altogether  impracticable.  When  I  could  revert 
to  it,  I  found  my  engagements  had  grown  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  demand  for  letters  alone  much  more  time  than  could  possi- 
bly be  spared ;  and  I  was  under  the  necessity  of  sorting  my 
friends,  as  it  were,  and  addressing  them  successively.  Eeasons 
of  immediate  business,  and  others,  very  different  from  fickleness 
or  whim,  compelled  me  to  begin  with  some  whose  acquaintance 
I  had  enjoyed  the  least.  I  must  not,  I  confess,  refuse  its  share 
of  merit  to  one  of  my  besetting  infirmities,  procrastination- 
Upon  the  whole,  I  have  levied,  a  la  Frangaise,  the  heaviest 
assessments  upon  the  patience  and  attachments  of  some  from 
whom  I  have  received  the  greatest  kindness. 

You  will  naturally  inquire  about  our  Seminary  which  has 
been  honoured  by  your  patronage.  It  is  prosecuted  as  vig- 
orously as  the  state  of  things  will  permit.  It  is  difficult,  v/ith- 
out  being  on  the  spot,  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  embarrass- 
ments which  such  institutions  encounter  at  first.  The  condition 
of  society  here  adds  force  to  a  vexatious  principle  strong  enough 
everywhere,  a  reluctance  to  part  with  money  even  for  objects 
confessedly  of  the  highest  moment.  However,  we  have  no  rea- 
son to  be  dejected.  After  patient  exertion,  I  trust  we  shall  see 
our  wishes  crowned  with  a  success  that  will  call  for  gratitude. 
Our  General  Synod,  at  their  meeting  in  May  last,  devolved  upon 
my  shoulders  the  burden  of  the  Professorship.  The  responsi- 
bility is  awful ;  and  nothing  but  the  conviction  of  duty  not  to 
be  misunderstood,  could  have  induced  me  to  accept  it  as  I  have 
done,  in  addition  to  my  ordinary  pastoral  functions.  But  there 
■was  no  help  for  it.  Whoever  was  chosen,  must  submit  to  the 
same  hardship,  as  our  finances  are  not  yet  equal  to  the  main- 
tenance of  a  separate  establishment;  especially  since  they  must 
be   charged  to  a  considerable   amount   with   the   support   of 


APPKEHENSIONS   OF   WAR.  208 

students.  I  dare  hardly  say  I  wish,  because  I  should  wish  the 
Divine  providence  to  be  what  it  is  not;  but  I  would  have  been 
happy  had  the  Lord  seen  fit  to  grant,  that  my  temporal  circum- 
stances might  permit  me  to  devote  myself,  without  regard  to 
salary,  and  in  an  exclusive  manner,  to  the  general  service  of  the 
churches.  I  think  I  am  willing  to  labour  to  the  utmost  of  my 
powers  of  mind  and  body  in  any  vigorous  system  of  education 
for  our  theological  youth.  Nothing  lies  so  near  my  heart  as 
the  formation  and  success  of  such  a  sj^stem  ;  and  the  direction 
of  it,  if  I  mistake  not  my  own  character,  is  much  better  suited 
to  my  intellectual  and  social  habits,  than  the  charge  of  a  con- 
gregation. But  we  cannot  have-  things  all  in  our  own  way. 
Infinitely  higher  wisdom  than  our  own  fixes  the  bounds  of  our 
action  as  well  as  of  our  habitation.  The  printed  paper  which  I 
herewith  transmit,  will  place  in  your  view  the  outlines  of  a 
plan  laid  before  our  Synod  last  spring,  and  ordered  to  be 
printed,  that  our  ministers  and  other  friends  may  have  an 
opportunity  of  examining  it  before  the  ensuing  Synod  in  May 
next,  when  some  definitive  measures  will  probably  be  adopted. 
Your  unreserved  opinion  on  this  interesting  subject  I  shall 
esteem  a  particular  favour;  and  it  is  of  importance  that  I  obtain 
the  criticisms  of  my  friends  before  the  month  of  May. 

Many  people  suppose  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  war  with 
Spain,  in  consequence  of  a  dispute  about  the  boundaries  of 
Louisiana,  and  the  compensation  claimed  for  spoliations  com- 
mitted on  our  commerce  by  French  vessels  in  Spanish  ports. 
If  we  continue  in  peace,  it  will  not  be  owing  either  to  the  wis- 
dom or  firmness  of  our  speculative  administration.  I  regard 
very  little  the  prognostics  of  the  politicians.  The  disorders  of 
the  world,  pour  contempt  upon  all  calculations  which  are  not 
directed  by  the  word  of  God.  What  is  to  come,  I  know  not, 
but  from  the  complexion  of  the  prophetical  Scriptures,  I  am  in- 
clined to  apprehend  that  the  most  likely  is  the  Avorst. 

With  cordial  respects  to  your  dear  family, 

I  am  ever  yours, 

JNO.  M.   MASON. 

The  Christian  reader  cannot  fail  to  admire  the  wisdom,  piety, 
and  secret  charity,  which  unite  with  the  sj^mpathy  of  the  fol- 


204        THE  STAY  OF  WIDOWS  AND  ORPHANS. 

lowing  effusion  to  bis  mother's  widowed  sister  on  sustaining  a 
severe  loss : — 

DR.  M.  TO  MRS.  V. 

New  York,  Oct.  5,  1804. 

My  Dear  Aunt:  I  hope  the  enclosed  will  answer  your  pur- 
pose. My  anxieties  mingle  with  yours  on  every  subject  in- 
volving the  interest  of  your  dear  children.  Many  difficulties 
you  have  indeed  to  encounter.  Bat  be  cautious  of  giving  way 
to  dejection.  The  less  of  the  creature  there  is  between  us  and 
the  Creator  the  more  easy  is  it  to  feel  our  absolute  dependence; 
that  is,  the  shorter  is  our  road  to  support  and  peace.  Had  he 
not  wise  and  merciful  reasons,  he  would  not  have  thrown  you 
into  circumstances  which  are  strongly  marked  with  the  cross, 
and  compel  you  at  times  to  institute  painful  comparisons,  and 
to  call  up  painful  recollections.  Flesh  and  blood  are  bad  ex- 
positors of  God's  dispensations.  He  "is  his  own  interpreter," 
and  you  will  find  in  due  season  the  interpretation  to  be  as 
sweet  as  the  text  was  bitter.  Among  those  classes  of  the 
afflicted,  to  whom  he  has  given  "  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises,"  the  widow  and  fatherless  occupy  the  first  rank.  You 
can  have  no  cause  for  despondency  so  long  as  the  "fountain  of 
living  watcY-s"  does  not  run  dry.  If  you  walk  through  a  "  vale 
of  tears"  you  only  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  those  who  now 
"  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the  promises."  The  Lord's 
eye  is  on  your  path  :  say  unto  him  with  the  weeping  Psalmist, 
"Put  my  tears  into  thy  bottle;  are  they  not  in  thy  book?'' 
He  has  not — no  he  has  not — cast  you  off.  Too  much  goodness 
and  mercy  have  hitherto  followed  you.  At  this  moment  he  is 
bearing  you  up  as  upon  eagle's  wings.  You  can  assign  no  rea- 
son why  you  have  not  fainted  but  this,  that  his  mercy  has  held 
up  your  sliding  feet.  Trust  him  for  "perfecting  that  which 
concerneth  yon,"  and  trust  him  for  your  dear  children.  You 
have  a  high  claim  for  them,  "  They  are  of  the  seed  whom  the 
Lord  hath  blessed."  By  methods  of  his  own  devising,  he  has 
fostered  them  hitherto :  and  this  is  a  precious  pledge  of  his 
future  provision  for  them.  It  does  us  no  hurt  to  be  early  in- 
ured to  self-denial,  and  have  a  strong  providential  constraint 
laid  upon  the  dangerous  propensions  of  the  youthful  heart, 
especially  when  these  are  the  very  propensions  which  the  cor- 


THE   SIN   OF   UNBELIEF.  205 

rupt  state  of  society  directly  cherishes.  "  It  is  good  for  a  man 
to  bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth."  You  have  cause  of  unutter- 
able thankfulness  that  your  affectionate  and  dutiful  children 
have  not  broken  jout  spirits  by  infant  Avickedness.  They  are 
in  the  best  of  hands,  and  your  privilege  is  to  leave  them  there. 
It  is  our  Redeemer's  gracious  command,  "  Take  no  thought  for 
to-morrow."  To-day  only  is  yours,  to-morrow  is  his.  You 
know  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth,  in  comfort  or  in  grief. 
Every  distracting  imagination  about  to-morrow  interrupts  both 
the  duties  and  consolations  of  to-day.  Look  upon  the  lilies,  how 
they  grow  !  Look  upon  the  ravens,  how  they  are  preserved  ! 
Your  heavenly  Father  feeds  the  fowls  and  clothes  the  grass; 
and  shall  he  not  much  rather  clothe  thee  and  thine,  0  thou  of 
little  faith?  "That,"  you  will  say,  "is  a  charge  which  smites 
me  down.  My  unbelief  rules,  and  shuts  me  out  from  the  re- 
pose which  the  compassions  of  Jesus  tender  to  me  in  his  Gos- 
pel." Unbelief  is  a  great  sin  and  a  great  folly,  no  doubt.  It 
seals  up  in  j3roportion  to  its  prevalence,  the  streams  of  the 
water  of  life.  But  take  heed,  my  beloved  friend,  that  you  do 
not  grieve  the  good  Spirit  of  God,  by  obstinately  disowning 
"what  he  has  done  for  you.  Thank  him  from  your  inmost  soul 
that  he  has  taught  you  to  mourn  over  its  sway,  even  though  to 
your  apprehension  that  sway  be  irresistible.  Irresistible  to  your 
efforts  it  is;  but  not  to  the  operation  of  the  "spirit  of  faith." 
You  are  perhaps  looking  for  the  entire  and  unruffled  dominion 
over  this  vile  unbelief.  If  so,  you  are  looking  for  what  you 
have  no  right  to  expect  in  this  life,  because  your  God  has  not 
engaged  to  bestow  it  upon  you.  Remember  that  the  plague  of 
unbelief  is  a  plague  that  will  make  you  groan  so  long  as  you 
are  "in  this  tabernacle."  You  are  only  learning  by  experience, 
what  you  profess  to  believe,  that  the  Christian's  life  is  a  fight ; 
and  if  you  find  it  a  hard  one,  it  is  to  afford  scope  for  your 
Saviours  "strength  being  made  perfect  in  your  weakness." 
In  the  mean  time  be  assured  that  "there  has  no  temptation  (or 
trial)  befallen  you  but  such  as  is  common."  Your  complaints 
are  as  old  as  the  conflict  between  "the  flesh  and  the  spirit;" 
and  this  bears  date  with  the  first  conversion  in  our  fallen  world. 
The  Lord  Jesus  is  "exalted  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  to 
give  repentance  and  remission."     It  ought  to  be  our  joy  that 


206  QUALIFICATION   FOR   PRAYING. 

"precious  faith,"  to  embrace  pardon  and  strength  as  they  are 
exhibited  in  Christ,  is  as  much  a  free  gift  as  the  pardon  itself 
Put  your  unbelieving  heart  into  the  custody  of  the  divine  in- 
tercessor: and  with  it  all  your  insensibility,  and  hardness  and 
sloth,  under  this  unbelief.  "Wait  for  him;"  he  is  worth  wait- 
ing for.  In  his  own  time,  which  is  the  best  time,  he  will  hear 
your  voice;  tlic  hour  of  deliverance  shall  come,  "and  you  shall 
yet  praise  him  for  the  health  of  his  countenance."  My  prayer  for 
you  is,  that  he  would  fulfil  in  you  all  the  good  pleasure  of  his 
goodness,  and  the  worh  of  fait] i  ivWi  poiver.  "Blessed  are  they 
that  mourn,  for  they  shall  be  comforted."  We  all  enjoy  the 
mercy  of  good  healtli. 


One  of  those  brethren  wh'o  had  accompanied  him  from  Scot- 
land, shared  his  tenderest  sj^mpathy,  on  an  occasion  when 
Christian  sympathy  becomes  a  balm  to  the  wounded  spirit: — 

DR.  M.,  TO  THE  REV.  JAMES  LAURIE. 

New  Yobk,  Dec.  8tb,  1804. 
My  Dear  Brother  :  I  received  yesterday,  and  read  with 
much  emotion,  your  letter  of  the  loth,  concerning  your  recent 
afQiction.  Before  a  man  of  the  world,  my  lips  would  be  sealed; 
for  I  know  not  what  source  of  consolation  lies  open  to  his  heart. 
But,  oh,  my  brother,  Christian  can  talk  with  Christian  concern- 
ing the  chastenings  of  their  Father,  in  a  way  as  sweet  to  them 
as  it  is  unintelligible  to  others.  We  are  the  Lord's;  we  have 
given  our  bodies,  our  souls,  our  dear  little  ones,  again  and 
again  to  Ilim,  as  His  property  ;  and  we  would  not  recall  the 
gift  for  the  highest  bribe  which  can  be  offered  by  this  seducing 
world.  Would  we,  my  brother  ?  I  know  your  answer.  Well, 
He  has  taken  you  at  your  word.  He  is  teaching  you  to  pray 
after  His  own  pattern,  "  Thy  will  be  done."  Lightly  as  most 
esteem  what  is  commonly  called  the  Lord's  Prayer,  there  is  not 
a  man  under  heaven,  but  one  "renewed  in  the  spirit  of  His 
mind,"  that  can  utter  it  with  understanding  and  sincerity. 
Every  sentence  of  it,  though  most  divine,  goes  to  the  quick  of 
flesh  and  blood.  But  grace  can  pour  it  out  from  the  bottom  of 
the  heart,  through  sighs  and  anguish,  through  stammering  lips, 


HOPE   CONCERNING  INFANTS.  207 

and  streaming  eyes.  I  trust  you  can  say,  or  are  endeavouring  to 
say,  with  one  who  had  much  better  instruction  than  the  "infal- 
lible" church  could  have  furnislied  ;  "  There  he  lies,  and  with 
him  one  of  the  best  of  my  earthly  comforts,  but  if  the  moving 
of  a  straw  would  bring  him  back  again,  without  the  will  of  my 
Father  in  heaven,  I  would  not  be  the  mover  of  that  straw  for  a 
thousand  worlds."  Blessed  be  our  Redeemer's  name,  we  do  not 
"  mourn  as  those  that  have  no  hope."  This  covenant  standeth 
firm,  "I  will  be  thy  God,  and  the  God  of  thy  seed.^\  How  this 
latter  clause  affects  some,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  I  never  read  it 
without  melting ;  and  I  am  sure  it  is  soothing  at  this  moment  to 
the  bleeding  bosom  of  my  friend.  Thanks,  thanks,  endless 
thanks  and  praise  to  the  Lord  our  Righteousness,  for  the  en- 
couragement believers  have  to  conclude  that  their  deceased 
babes  are  gone  to  be  with  Him!  You  would  not,  my  brother, 
wish  to  have  kept  in  this  scene  of  guilt  and  sorrow,  to  be  em- 
ployed in  cries  and  weeping,  an  infant  voice  that  now  sings 
Hallelujah  !  There  is  nothing,  indeed,  in  our  religion,  to  stifle 
the  yearnings  of  nature,  but  much  to  control,  to  soften  and  sanc- 
tify them.  "  We  know  that  aM  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God."  We  know  that  our  Lord  has  too  ten- 
der an  affection  for  us,  to  subject  us  to  one  unnecessary  pang ; 
and  there  is  one  consideration  of  mighty  efficacy  in  composing 
our  spirits  under  the  rod,  "  Though  he  were  a  SON,  yet  learned 
he  obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered."  Dear  brother 
Laurie,  you  have  been  called  to  take  a  step  in  company  with 
your  sympathizing  Saviour.  And  oh,  He  is  good  company. 
It  is  worth  going  through  tribulation  for  His  presence,  and 
through  death  itself  for  His  unclouded  vision.  In  the  mean 
time  he  will  teach  us,  and  if  it  cannot  be  done  without  scourg- 
ing, He  will  teach  us  by  the  scourge,  that  we  are  not  so  poor  as 
to  possess  only  a  portion  of  which  death  can  rob  us.  Our  in- 
heritance is  beyond  the  reach  of  revolution  or  disaster.  "The 
Lord  is  our  portion,"  say  our  souls  ;  and  whoever  dies,  "  the 
Lord  lives,  blessed  be  our  Rock."  When  on  this  topic,  we 
must  not  forget  that  afflictions  are  for  prevention  as  well  as  cure; 
and  it  is  impossible  for  you  so  much  as  to  conjecture  what  dan- 
gers to  your  peace  and  usefulness  are  frustrated  by  this  very 
dispensation,  nor  in  what  manner  it  may  fit  you  for  "comfort- 


208  A  DESTRUCTIVE   FIRE  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ing  others  witli  that  consolation  wherewitli  you  yourself  have 
been  comforted  of  God."     Sanctified  aflQiction  is  a  rich  mercy. 

I  have  not  endured  your  trial  exactly,  but  have  not  been 
without  my  own.  When  I  was  absent  from  my  family,  sup- 
plying vacancies,  early  in  November,  death  came  up  into  my 
windows,  and  with  a  warning  of  only  five  hours,  snatched  away 
my  mother-in-law.  I  left  her  in  more  than  common  healthy 
and  never  saw  her  more.  The  stroke  was  trying,  particularly 
as  the  shock  might  have  had  terrible  effects  upon  Mrs.  Mason ; 
but  the  Lord  was  gracious,  and  had  mercy  upon  her,  and  upon 
me  also. 

Our  city,  mercifully  exempted  from  pestilence,  has  this  morn- 
ing been  smitten  with  fire.  It  broke  out  between  three  and 
four,  and  by  seven  was  exhibited  the  melancholy  spectacle  of 
the  blazing  and  smoking  ruins  of  forty-one  houses  and  stores. 
The  loss  is  immense.  The  whole  block  immediately  south  of 
the  Tontine  Coffee-house,  with  the  exception  of  three  or  four 
stores,  lies  in  ashes.  Some  are  insured ;  some  are  able  to  bear 
it ;  and  some  are  utterly  ruined.  Our  excellent  friend  Bethune, 
escaped  by  a  hair's  breadth.  One  of  his  stores  was  in  imminent 
peril,  and  the  other,  (one  of  the  three  that  were  saved),  was 
actually  on  fire  at  both  ends.  It  is  good  to  live  by  faith  on 
God's  promise  for  this  world.  A  moment  sweeps  away  the 
earnings  of  an  industrious  life  ;  a  moment  opens  a  door  of  sup- 
ply which  our  industry  could  not  have  procured.  Such,  I 
bope,  your  office  of  chaplain  will  prove.  I  desire  to  give 
thanks  on  your  behalf  for  the  mercies  which  have  been  mingled 
with  your  griefs.  Farewell,  my  friend.  Grace  be  with  you. 
I  close  my  letter  under  the  influence  of  the  joy  which  arises 
from  believing  that  you  Avill  have  much  better  comfort  than 
any  which  can  be  ministered  bj'"  him  who  is  unfeignedly 
yours,  &c. 


His  unceasing  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Seminary,  together 
with  his  habitual  disregard  of  calumnies,  are  indicated  in  a 
letter  to  a  clerical  brother  settled  in  the  West : 


ARGUMENT  FOR  THE  SEMINARY.  209 


DR.  M.  TO  THE  REV.  A.  CALDERHEAD. 

New  York,  Oct  2d,  1804. 
The  demands  of  3'Our  Presbytery  are  great.  But  it  is  com- 
fortable when  our  difSiculties  arise  from  our  Master's  blessing. 
I  dare  say  you  will  agree  with  me,  that  in  a  short  time,  every 
supply  which  our  sister  church  in  Britain  can  afford,  will  be  in. 
sufficient.  Oar  only  human  hope  is  in  our  own  Seminary.  There 
is  no  point  for  which  we  ought  to  labour  more  among  our  own 
jDCople  than  the  necessity  of  contributions  for  its  support. 
These  contributions  are  needed  as  much  for  the  maintenance  of 
young  men  while  at  their  studies,  at  least  such  of  them  as  have 
not  means  of  maintaining  themselves,  as  for  any  other  purpose 
whatsoever.  It  would  be  well  if  congregations  could  be  made 
to  feel  their  interest  in  this  matter ;  for  it  is  certain  that  in  pro- 
portion to  the  prosperity  of  the  Seminary  is  their  own  security 
for  comfortable  settlement  when  they  are  vacant ;  and  for  re- 
placing their  present  ministers,  when  the  Lord  shall  please  to 
remove  them  hence.  I  cannot  but  think  that  if  the  people  at 
large  were  familiarized  with  the  important  objects  for  whicb 
their  benefactions  are  solicited,  they  would  soon  acquire  a 
habit  of  steady  and  honourable  liberality ;  and  as  certainly, 
would  this  liberality  return  with  ample  increase,  into  their  own 
bosoms.  You,  my  respected  friend,  have  much  in  your  power. 
Your  toils,  your  experience,  and  your  zeal  for  serving  the 
welfare  of  our  churches,  confer  on  you  a  right  to  speak  in  a 
manner  which  shall  be  heard,  and  that  with  effect.  Patience, 
gentleness,  and  perseverance  will  do  wonders.  We  have 
infallible  authority  for  calculating,  that  many  will  grant  to 
importunity  what  they  will  deny  to  duty ;  and  the  habit  once 
established,  the  principal  obstacle  is  surmounted.  I  pray  you, 
and  the  brethren,  as  you  love  our  Zion,  never  lose  sight  of  this 
all-important  object,  the  Seminary !  Carrying  it  vigorously 
through,  onr  prospects  are  flattering;  neglecting  it,  our  course 
to  ruin  is  direct  and  short. 

The  progress  of  the  revival,  as  it  existed  in  3'our  country  ; 

of  J.'s  apostacy,  and  McK.'s  schism,  is  perfectly  natural.     The 

first,  without  a  miracle  to  control  't,  could  produce  no  salutary 

fruits;  the  second,  must  pine  awa\   in  his  iniquitv,  unless  the 

14 


210  RAILING   AND   SLANDER  DISREGARDED. 

head  of  the  church  has  ceased  to  protect  her  discipline;  and 
the  third  could  not  expect  men  to  be  faithful  and  peaceable 
with  him,  when  he  had  been  faithless  and  troublesome  to  others. 
In  railing  against  me,  these  persons  only  betray  their  own  petu- 
lance, and  their  ignorance  of  my  disposition.  A  million  of 
their  slanders,  uttered  within  my  hearing,  might  disturb  my  mus- 
cles, or  excite  my  pity  ,•  but  not  break  my  repose.  In  railing 
against  the  church,  from  which  they  have  been  disconnected 
for  reasons  the  reverse  of  reputable  to  themselves,  they 
do  but  "  foam  out  their  own  shame."  The  best  method  of 
treating  them  is  never  to  reply.  Let  the  railing  all  be  on  one 
side,  and  it  will  destroy  itself.  The  moment  we  assume  the  at- 
titude of  antagonists,  we  strengthen  the  cause  which  we  design 
to  overthrow.  Then  it  ceases  to  seem  what,  if  left  to  itself,  it 
would  show  itself  to  be — the  cause  of  pique  and  passion  ;  and 
by  embarking  something  like  principle  in  the  contest,  transfers 
the  censure  of  public  opinion  to  ourselves.  I  mean  that  is  the 
case  in  matters  like  those  of  J.  and  McK. 

You  see  my  paper  is  done.  I  fill  up  the  last  vacancy  with 
my  fervent  prayers  for  your  personal,  domestic,  and  pastoral 
happiness. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  yours  sincerely,  &c. 


There  is  scarcely  a  single  congregation  of  any  denomination 
in  which  there  is  not  a  Deacon  Johnson  or  a  *  *  *  *  to  annoy 
the  pastor  and  disturb  the  people.  Even  Dr.  Mason's  was  not  an 
exception.  Our  best  way,  generally  speaking,  doubtless  is  never 
to  mind  the  grumbler,  while  we  continue  in  the  diligent  and 
conscientious  discharge  of  every  duty ;  yet  few  can  be  at  a  loss 
for  an  original  to  the  picture  somewhat  strongly  drawn  in  a 
letter  to  an  old  friend,  whose  ears  had  been  regaled  with  the 
music  of  a  fault-finding  tongue  : — 

DR.  M.  TO   THE    REV.  ROBERT  ANNAN. 

New  York,  Sept.  5th,  1804. 
My  Dear  Sir  :    I  know  perfectly  well  from  whom  you  have 
received  intelligence  of  uneasiness  in  our  congregations  here.    I 
.ask  no  name ;  your  account  of  his  complaints  carries  internal 


FAULT-FINDING  PARISHONER,  211 

evidence  of  their  author.  We  have  had  trouble,  and  he  has 
himself  been  the  chief  mischief-maker.  Like  the  troubled  sea 
which  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt,  he  is 
incessantly  meddling  with  some  implement  of  disturbance. 
Were  ten  men  like  himself  to  be  found  in  any  one  congregation, 
the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  the  patience  of  Job  would  be  una- 
ble to  preserve  peace.  Though  he  constantly  attends  public 
worship  with  us,  he  has  entirely  withdrawn  from  our  fellow- 
ship, not  having  joined  with  us  in  the  Lord's  Supper  since  my 
return  from  Britain  ;  at  least  I  think  he  has  abstained  so  long. 
What  he  means  by  talking  about  my  absence  from  my  congre- 
gation, it  is  hard  to  tell.  It  is  now  within  a  few  weeks  of  twelve 
years  since  I  was  appointed  to  supply  this  people  immediately 
after  my  licensure;  and  the  18th  of  April  next  will  complete 
as  many  since  I  was  ordained  to  be  their  pastor,  and,  with  one 
exception,  when  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  Albany  on  the  affairs 
of  my  father's  estate,  I  have  never,  unless  upon  the  business  of 
the  church,  or  from  ill-health,  or  the  hand  of  the  Lord  upon 
our  city,  I  have  never  been  absent  from  them  a  single  Sabbath, 
But  the  truth  is,  that  he  would  rather  let  the  churches  go  to 
destruction  than  that  the  congregation  should  be  vacant  at  any 
time  by  my  attendance  upon  judicatories.  Through  the  bless- 
ing of  our  Master  we  are  at  peace,  and  not  without  prosperity, 
I  trust,  in  the  best  sense.  But  this  does  not  satisfy  *  *  *  * 
nor  will  anything  satisfy  him,  no,  not  if  he  could  manage  the 
whole  concerns  of  the  church  in  his  own  way.  Fretfulness, 
and  cavil,  and  murmur,  belong  to  the  essence  of  his  character. 
Nothing  but  death  will  cure  him  ;  and  I  do  not  incline  to  dis- 
pute that  he  has  the  root  of  the  matter  in  him.  But,  like  Soame 
Jennings,  he  is  a  Christian  sui  generis. 


DR.  M.   TO  MISS   ANNE  ERSKINE,  EDINBURGH. 

New  York,  Aug.  9tb,  1804. 

My  Dear  Miss  Erskine  :  Your  letter  of  the  29th  March, 
with  the  sermons  and  portraits,  arrived  safely  in  the  Pitt.  The 
parcels  for  Boston  have  been  forwarded  by  a  safe  conveyance, 
but  I  have  not  yet  found  a  proper  one  for  transmitting  the  por- 
trait destined  for  Dr.  Thatcher.     You  have    probably  beard 


212  REUNIONS  HEREAFTER. 

that  botli  he  and  Dr.  Nesbit  have  been  called  away  to  join  your 
venerable  father  in  that  world  of  delights  where  there  is  no 
need  of  letters  or  pictures  to  cherish  friendship.  It  will  be  my 
care  to  see  that  the  packages  intended  for  them,  go  safely  to 
their  families.  Mr.  Hazard  resides  in  Philadelphia,  and  oppor- 
tunities from  this  place  to  that  occur  continually. 

The  good  health  of  your  excellent  and  respected  mother 
gives  me  much  pleasure.  May  the  Lord  her  God,  who  is 
"  the  living  God,"  and  "  who  keepeth  covenant  and  mercy  to 
them  that  fear  him,"  strengthen  her  declining  years,  and  support 
her  in  all  her  tribulations  with  his  "everlasting  consolation, 
and  a  good  hope  through  grace."  I  shall  look  with  tender 
recollection  upon  the  image  of  your  dear  departed  parent,  who 
was  a  father  to  me  when  I  was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

180§. 

THE  CAUSK  OF  EDUCATION  AND   MISSIONS. 

Letter  to  Gov.  Tompkins — Columbia  College — Petition  in  behalf  of  the  N.  T. 
Missionary  Society— Letter  from  R.  K. — Southern  Churches — Letter  to  Eev. 
George  Sigismimd  Straske — Letter  to  Mr.  Thornton — Letter  to  Mr.  Hardcastle. 

Dr.  Mason's  zeal  for  the  interest  of  learning  as  a  Trustee  of 
Columbia  College  lias  already  appeared.  Other  evidences  of  it 
will  be  brought  to  light  in  the  exertions  which  from  time  to 
time  he  made  in  its  behalf.  To  this  effect  is  a  letter  to  Governor 
Tompkins,  at  the  time  either  a  Senator  or  Judge. 

TO   THE   HON.  D.  D.  TOMPKINS. 

New  York,  February  25, 1805. 
Dear  Sir  :  I  offer  no  apology  for  troubling  you  with  these 
lines,  because  I  know  you  will  desire  none.  As  an  alum- 
nus of  Columbia  College,  your  own  interest  in  the  affairs  of  our 
Alma  Mater  will  sufficiently  vindicate  the  interest  which  I  feel 
in  them  at  present,  and  which  prompts  me  to  address  every  one 
who  can  be  of  service  to  them,  and  will  not  refuse  his  ear  to  my 
feeble  representations.  Several  things  indicate  that  the  Legis- 
lature inclines  to  munificence  in  the  patronage  of  letters;  and 
no  man  can  estimate  more  correctly  than  yourself,  the  import- 
ance of  seizing  those  favourable  opportunities,  those  mollia 
tempora  fandi,  which  such  an  inclination  affords,  for  the  purpose 
of  producing  both  a  just  and  a  powerful  impression.  Union 
College  appears  to  be  the  reigning  favourite  ;  and  there  is  cer- 
tainly no  good  reason  why  she  should  not  enjoy  her  full  share 
of  the  public  bounty.  But  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  as  little 
reason  why  she  should  monopolize  it ;  and  the  Institution  in 
this  city  be  left  to  languish.     I  am  apprehensive  that  the  meas- 


214  CLAIMS  OF  COLUMBIA  COLLEGE. 

ures  now  pursued,  not  without  prospect  of  success,  lean 
strongly  that  way.  With  our  course  of  education  you  are 
familiar;  nor  can  it  have  passed  your  observation  that  several 
steps  have  been  taken  towards  rendering  that  course  progres- 
sively efficient.  There  exists  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  a  purpose 
the  most  decided  and  steady,  to  impart  a  tone  to  its  order  and 
stamp  a  value  upon  its  honours,  which  shall  give  a  spring  to 
juvenile  effort,  and  command  the  respect  of  strangers.  Embar- 
rassments there  certainly  are  in  the  way  of  this  improvement; 
but  if  they  be  not  removed,  their  continuance  shall  not  be  owing 
to  supineness  or  fickleness.  The  Legislature  may  erect  with- 
out difficulty,  by  fulfilling  the  expectations  which  its  own  acts 
authorized,  a  movement  of  wisdom  and  patriotism,  which  it  shall 
afterwards  view  with  self- approbation.  I  am  persuaded  that 
not  one  member  of  that  honourable  body  will  review  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  permitted,  and  even  compelled,  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  College  to  vibrate  between  uncertainties,  without 
conceding  that  there  is  cause  for  remonstrance,  if  not  com- 
plaint. Seriously,  my  dear  Sir,  the  State  owes  to  its  own 
dignity,  I  had  nearly  said  to  its  good  faith,  such  further  pro- 
vision for  the  College  as  will  enable  the  trustees  to  meet  its 
reasonable  expense,  and  to  complete  the  building  which  was 
begun  by  the  direction  of  the  Legislature,  and  cannot  be  com- 
pleted without  their  aid.  You  need  not  be  told  that  the  present 
state  of  both  the  old  and  new  buildings  are  a  reproach  to  our 
city  and  State.  If  you  will  take  the  pains  of  perusing  a  petition 
from  the  board  to  the  Legislature,  and  which  was  transmitted 
some  time  ago,  to  his  Excellency  the  Governor,  you  will  see  that 
the  college  has  suffered  extremely  by  losses  incurred  partly 
during  the  Kevolutionary  war,  but.  principally  by  the  sacrifice 
which  was  made  of  its  property  by  the  State  of  New  York,  in 
her  settlement  with  Vermont.  110,000  acres  of  land,  with  un-. 
disputed  title,  were  surrendered  by  the  former.  At  this  day  it 
■would  have  been  worth  more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars ; 
yet  not  an  atom  of  compensation  has  ever  been  offi^red.  I  am 
the  more  urgent,  as  I  have  heard  that  it  is  actually  in  contem- 
plation to  give  the  government  house  and 2)roperty  in  this  city  to 
Schenectady  college!!  The  report,  you  may  well  conceive, 
stung  me  to  the  quick.     The  impolicy  of  such  a  measure,  the 


PETITION   OF  NEW   YORK   MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  215 

exterminating  blow  wliicli  it  aims  at  the  college  here,  and  the 
affront  which  it  involves  to  all  the  feeling  and  spirit  of  our 
citizens,  are  so  glaring,  that  nothing  but  the  fact  will  humble 
me  so  far  as  to  persuade  me  that  it  is  possible.  If  the  Legisla- 
ture is  disposed  to  grant  that  property  for  literary  uses,  its 
obvious  appropriation  is  to  the  Seminary  in  New  York.  Noth- 
ing more  would  be  necessary.  I  rely  upon  you,  dear  Sir,  for 
your  exertions  on  this  interesting  subject.  You  know  much 
better  than  I  what  representations  are  likely  to  succeed,  and  in 
what  manner  the  opinions  of  upright,  but  uninformed  men  are 
to  be  conciliated,  that  there  may  be  no  rish  when  the  fate  of  our 
college  is  to  be  decided  by  a  vote  of  the  Legislature.  Excuse 
my  officiousness,  and  believe  me  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  humble  servant, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

His  views  respecting  the  designs  and  operations  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  New  York,  are  indicated  by  the  following 
petition : — 

To  the  Honourable,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  Senate 
and  Assembly  convened  ;  the  Memorial  and  Petition  of  the  New 
York  Missionary  Society 

Humbly  sheweth, — 

That  a  number  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  and  others,  commiserating  the  deplorable  condition  of 
our  Indian  neighbours,  and  desirous  of  extending  to  them  the 
blessings  of  Christianity,  did,  in  the  month  of  November,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six, 
form  themselves  into  a  Society  by  the  name  and  style  of  "  The 
New  York  Missionary  Society,"  for  the  sole  purpose  of  spread- 
ing the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  particu- 
larly among  the  American  Indians  ;  that  in  this  their  design, 
they  have  been  countenanced  by  the  liberality  of  individuals 
and  Christian  Societies  ;  so  that  they  have  been  enabled  to  in- 
stitute a  permanent  mission,  and  to  erect  schools  among  the 
Indians  on  the  north-western  frontier  of  this  State. 

Your  memorialists  further  show,  that  they  are  highly  encou- 
raged to  persevere  in  maintaining  the  present  mission,  and  to 


216  NEED  TO   BE   INCORPORATED. 

attempt  others  whenever  it  shall  be  in  their  power,  as  they 
have  ascertained  that  very  salutary  effects  have  already  resulted 
from  the  divine  blessing  upon  their  endeavours.  They  are 
happy  and  thankful  that  they  can  state  to  your  honourable 
body,  that  the  Tuscaroras,  in  an  especial  manner^  discover  an 
anxiety  to  embrace  the  Christian  truth  and  the  arts  and  habits 
of  civilized  life ;  that  they  have  discontinued  the  use  of  spirit- 
uous liquors  ;  have  adopted  the  Christian  Sabbath ;  send  num- 
bers of  their  youth  to  school,  of  whom  many  are  making 
respectable  proficiency  in  the  rudiments  of  education ;  and  that 
tbey  generally  attend  public  worship  on  the  Lord's  day. 

Your  memorialists  further  show  that  the  prospect  of  access 
to  some  of  the  interior  tribes  is  such  as  to  warrant  a  hope  that 
they,  too.  will  favourably  receive  a  suitable  missionary,  if  he 
can  be  obtained.  But  your  memorialists  find  themselves  em- 
barrassed in  the  prosecution  of  their  plan  by  their  incapacity  of 
holding  real  estate;  or  of  recovering  personal  estate  which 
pious  benefactors  may  incline  to  bestow.  With  a  view,  there- 
fore, to  the  better  accomplishment  of  the  ends  which  the  society 
contemplates,  and  which  they  are  persuaded  will  meet  the  ap- 
probation of  your  honourable  body,  your  memorialists  pray 
that  the  aforesaid  association  may  be  incorporated  by  an  act  of 
the  Legislature. 

And  your  petitioners  shall  ever  pray. 

Signed  in  the  name  and  by  the  order  of  The  New  York  Mis- 
sionary Society,  this  sixth  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  five. 

J.  M.  MASON,  Secretary. 

New  York,  March  G,  1805. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  owe  their  chief  interest 
to  the  information  they  give  concerning  Scotch  churches  in  the 
South  :— 

E.  K.  TO  DR.  MASON. 

I.AWRKNCE,  Slarch  7,  1805. 

My  Dear  Sir:  For  several  weeks  I  have  been  deliberating 
whether  to  write  to  you  or  not.  You  will  easily  believe  that 
the  hesitation  did  not  arise  from  any  sentiment  inconsistent 
with  the  warmest  love  and  boundless  gratitude.     As  no  man 


EFFECT  OF   "LETTERS   ON   COMMUNION."  217 

alive  owes  you  more,  allow  me  to  say  that  no  man  alive  loves 
you  better. 

From  the  statistical  tables,  and  from  tlie  information  of 
southern  brethren  when  at  Synod,  you  must  be  almost  as  well 
acquainted  with  the  state  of  our  churches  in  this  part  of  the 
country  as  I  am ;  and,  I  believe,  few  events  of  importance  have 
recently  occurred. 

I  have  seen  Mr.  Irvine,  who  is  almost  universally  viewed  as 
a  very  pious  man.  But  I  am  not  without  apprehensions  that 
even  his  piety  may  cause  trouble,  if  not  mischief.  He  talks 
loudly  about  giving  up  fast-days,  &c. ;  and  wonders  that  many 
are  so  soon  removed  from  him  that  called  them  into  the  grace 
of  Christ  unto  another  Gospel!  He  entered  a  little  into  con- 
troversy, but  without  any  good  effect.  You  know  how  fruitful 
one  is  in  resources  to  maintain  the  ground  once  assumed  and 
publicly  declared.  Finding  a  convert  was  not  to  be  expected, 
I  endeavoured  to  press  the  idea  that  division  would  be  destruc- 
tion to  our  congregations,  of  which  many  were  unsettled  and 
weak.  He  hoped  there  was  no  fear  of  division  by  his  means  ; 
but  observed  that  peace  could  be  purchased  at  too  high  a  price ; 
and  that  truth  and  old  useful  institutions  must  not  be  sacrificed 
at  its  altar.  I  find  he  has  been  misinformed.  He  thinks  there 
are  but  two  or  three  members  of  the  Synod  of  your  sentiments. 
And  perhaps  it  was  on  this  principle  he  proposed  that  the 
Synod  should  explicitly  declare  what  was  right  in  this  contro- 
versy, and  recommend  moderation  towards  those  who  were 
"wrong. 

From  some  experience,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  uneasiness 
of  the  people,  at  least,  as  to  its  height  and  duration,  is  the  effect 
of  ministerial  influence,  still  exerted  Avithin  the  Associate  Ke- 
formed  Synod ;  and  that  a  little  of  the  apostle's  guileful  pru- 
dence, if  seasonably  exercised,  would  soon  have  reconciled 
them  to  the  alteration.  When  at  Louisville  I  put  your  "Letters" 
into  many  of  their  hands  who  were  most  prejudiced.  They 
returned  them,  not  only  without  an}'"  answer  in  their  mouth, 
but  declaring  there  was  more  in  it  than  they  expected  to  find. 
By  the  most  urgent  solicitations,  I  was  prevailed  upon  to  leave 
it  among  them.     Ministers  have  certainly  discouraged  reading 


218  SWEETNESS  OF   CHRISTIAN   SYMPATHY. 

upon  the  subject.     To  me  it  appeared  proper  that  you  should 
be  acquainted  with  these  facts. 

R.  K. 

Many  other  letters,  which  sufficiently  explain  themselves, 
some  of  which  relate  to  public  and  others  to  private  matters, 
but  all  indicative  of  his  thoughts,  feelings,  purposes  and  plans, 
will  hereafter  be  introduced,  for  the  most  part  in  the  order  of 
their  respective  dates,  without  preface  or  comment,  and  some- 
times without  the  signature. 

DR.  M.  TO  THE  REV.  GEORGE  SIGISMUND  STRASKE. 

New  York,  March  9, 1805. 

Yery  Dear  Brother  in  Christ  :  Your  letter  to  me  verified 
Solomon's  proverb,  "  As  cold  waters  to  a  thirsty  soul,  so  is  good 
news  from  a  far  country.''  I  found,  in  perusing  it,  that  the 
hearts  of  "  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,"  beat 
in  delightful  unison.  I  knew  of  one  more  pilgrim  on  the  way 
to  the  New  Jerusalem  than  I  had  known  before,  and  I  "re- 
joiced for  the  consolation."  On  the  great  things  which  relate 
to  our  eternal  life,  to  our  conflict  with  the  "law  in  our  members 
warring  against  the  law  of  our  mind,"  to  our  expectations  from 
God  our  Kedeemer,  and  God  our  Sanctifier,  I  am  in  the  habit 
of  unbosoming  myself  in  my  correspondence  to  those  who  I 
think  can  enter  into  my  feelings  and  views.  I  would  not,  for 
the  world,  give  up  Christian  sympathj^  It  refreshes  us  in  our 
course,  to  hear  from  and  converse  with  those  who  labour  under 
the  same  burden  of  the  "  body  of  death ;"  who  arc  held,  step  by 
step,  in  the  same  gracious  hand ;  struggling  on  from  hour  to 
hour  amidst  many  fears,  and  many  fightings,  and  many  sins ; 
treading  on  the  very  edge  of  a  precipice,  and  still  kept  from 
falling.  Adored  be  our  Brother  in  the  sanctuary  above  that  he 
has  a  fellow-feeling  with  our  infirmities ;  that  we  can  lay  our 
aching  heads  upon  his  bosom,  and  "pour  out  our  hearts  before 
Him." 

The  Directors  of  the  New  York  Missionary  Society  received 
with  much  affection  your  offer  of  })ious  Missionaries.  They 
have  charged  me  to  assure  you  of  their  Christian  love,  and 
their  gratitude  for  your  tender  of  assistance,  but  at  the  same 


THE   LONDON    "  CHEISTIAN    OBSERVER."  219 

time  to  inform  you  and  their  brethren  with  you,  that  Missiona- 
ries who  do  not  speak  the  English  will  be  of  no  use  in  their 
service.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  get  even  tolerable  intepre- 
ters  for  the  English  and  Indian,  and  the  difficulty  would  be 
greatly  increased  by  the  introduction  of  a  third  language.  Nei- 
ther is  it  in  their  power,  at  present,  to  set  up  new  missions  of 
any  sort,  although  a  wide  door  is  opened ;  their  pecuniary  re- 
sources being  hardly  sufficient  for  their  existing  establishment. 
This,  which  is  fixed  among  the  Tuscaroras,  on  the  Western 
frontier  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  vicinity  of  Niagara, 
prospers.  We  have  ground  to  hope  that  the  Lord  has  borne 
testimony  to  the  Word  of  his  grace.  Wonderful  alterations 
have  been  effected  in  the  manners  of  these  poor  Pagans.  They 
drink  no  more  spirituous  liquors  ;  they  have  no  more  heathen 
festivals ;  they  send  their  children  to  our  schools  which  are 
erected  among  them;  they  observe  the  Lord's  day;  they  so- 
berly attend  His  worship ;  they  have  begun  to  adopt  regu- 
lar marriage ;  some  of  them  appear  to  be  deeply  concerned 
about  the  things  which  belong  to  their  peace,  and  to  have  just 
views,  in  general,  of  the  Gospel  salvation.  These  things  are 
encouraging,  and  we  wish  to  persevere.  The  Lord  will  work, 
and  who  shall  let  it?  May  we  be  found  faithful !  "I  commend 
you,"  my  dear  Sir,  to  God,  and  to  the  Word  of  his  grace.  May 
Ho  lift  upon  you  the  "light  of  His  countenance!"  You  shall 
hear  from  me  again  after  the  meeting  of  our  Society  in  April. 


DE.  M.  TO   H.  THORNTON,  Esq.,  LONDON. 

New  York,  March  8th,  1805. 

Dear  Sir:  The  second  volume  of  the  Christian  Observer 
came  to  hand  after  long  detention.  I  have  to  thank  you  for  it ; 
it  is  one  of  those  "  tokens  for  good"  which  should  fix  our  reso- 
lution and  elevate  our  hope,  when  men  of  wisdom  and  activity 
appear  to  be  very  jealous  for  the  "Lord  God  of  Hosts,"  and 
vindicate  with  firmness  and  dignity  that  "  precious  faith  once 
delivered  unto  the  saints."  In  matters  of  external  order,  it  is 
the  unhappiness  of  many,  who  burn  with  equal  zeal  for  the 
"  common  salvation,"  to  have  different  views.  But  it  is  highly 
consolatory  to  know  that  there  are  thousands  whom  the  bar- 


220  A   HARD  "WINTER. 

riers  of  outward  separation  cannot  deprive  of  most  pleasant  and 
affectionate  communion  with  each  other  as  heirs  together  "  of 
the  grace  of  life." 

Our  worthy  friend,  Mr,  Mackanness,  has  received  his  copy  of 
the  Christian  Observer.  The  old  gentleman,  weak  in  flesh,  but 
strong  in  spirit,  is  waiting  for  his  release  from  the  body  of  death. 
A  lovelier  picture  of  Christian  meekness,  simplicity,  and  fer- 
vour, is  rarely  to  be  seen  than  is  exhibited  in  his  little  family. 
Often  as  I  have  visited  him,  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  spent 
half  an  hour  in  his  company  without  hearing  introduced  into 
the  conversation  the  name  of  his  patron  and  friend,  your  late 
venerable  father,  with  much  tenderness  of  feeling,  toward  the 
members  of  his  family. 

I  shall  have  nothing  to  communicate  relative  to  our  Semina- 
ry, more  than  is  contained  in  my  former  letter,  till  after  the 
month  of  May.  The  interval  is  now  too  short  to  obtain  the  aid 
I  requested  for  assisting  in  the  original  formation  of  our  plan, 
but  it  will  notwithstanding  be  useful  and  acceptable  in  further- 
ing our  progress. 

It  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure  to  have  assisted  Mr. 
Stephen  in  his  researches  into  the  history  of  Toussaint,  but  my 
inquiries  have  been  unsuccessful.  Madame  Toussaint  is  not, 
and  has  not  been  in  this  city,  nor  can  I  as  yet  get  the  smallest 
information  of  her  residence. 

The  copies,  which  accompany  this,  of  an  oration  delivered  on 
the  death  of  that  wonderful  man,  Major-General  Hamilton,  and 
which  derives  its  interest  from  that  circumstance  alone,  are 
presented  rather  ungraciously  at  this  late  hour,  but  are  not  less 
a  testimon}^  of  the  esteem  with  which  I  am,  your  most  obliged, 
&c. 


DR.  M.  TO  MR.  HARDCASTLE,  LONDON. 

New  York,  March  12th,  1805. 

My  Dear  Friend  :  .Our  winter  has  been  more  severe  than 
at  any  former  time  in  the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant. 
For  three  months  the  streets  of  this  city  have  been  covered 
with  snow.  The  thermometer  on  the  outside  of  my  second 
story  window  has  stood  on  the  northern  exposure  as  low  as  5° 


BRITISH  AND   FOREIGX   BIBLE   SOCIETY.  221 

below  zero  for  many  days.  Great  calamities  were  endured  in 
consequence  of  the  fuel  running  short  and  all  our  creeks  and 
rivers,  from  which  the  supply  of  wood  came,  being  closed  with 
ice.  Liverpool  coal  commanded  at  one  time  £5  12s.  sterling 
per  chaldron.  Eepeated  and  heavy  falls  of  snow,  with  short 
intervals  of  thaw  and  light  rain,  just  sufficient  to  render  the 
whole  more  compact,  accumulated  a  mass  of  almost  solid  ice, 
in  some  streets  three,  in  others  four,  and  in  some  of  the  narrow- 
est six  or  seven  feet  thick!  Since  the  weather  has  moderated 
and  for  two  or  three  weeks  it  has  been  quite  pleasant;  prodigious 
quantities  have  been  carted  away,  after  breaking  up  the  ice 
with  axes  and  crowbars.  At  this  moment,  the  street,  except- 
ing the  sidewalks,  before  mj  own  door,  is  covered  with  a  stra- 
tum of  ice  a  foot  and  a  half  deep.  In  some  spots  it  is  still  deep- 
er and  would  not  have  gone  off  by  the  natural  warmth  of  the 
spring  sooner  than  May.  But  for  the  extraordinary  efforts  of 
the  inhabitants,  we  might  have  the  curious  phenomenon  of  the 
whole  surrounding  country  luxuriating  v.ith  verdure,  bloom, 
and  fruit,  the  thermometer  standing  at  65°,  and  at  the  same  time 
several  sections  of  streets  in  the  cit}^  of  New  York,  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  80,000  inhabitants,  hard  bound  in  ice.  Centuries 
may  elapse  before  such  a  winter  recur. 

I  rejoice  at  the  institution  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  It  is  one  of  those  events  which  mark  very  strongly 
the  character  of  the  present  dispensations  of  Divine  Providence. 
I  am  deeply  impressed  with  the  fear  that  darkness  is  about  to 
settle  down  upon  the  churches,  that  with  all  revivals  and  all 
encouragements,  the  purity  of  truth  and  the  power  of  godli- 
ness will  decline  through  the  church  at  large  ;  i  e.  she  will  lose 
more  on  the  whole  than  she  will  gain  in  the  parts ;  that  the 
declension  before  long  will  be  very  rapid,  and  will  proceed  to  a 
certain  point,  just  far  enough  to  keep  alive  a  seed  for  the  future 
harvest,  and  that  the  seed  in  the  mean  time  will  be  sown  through- 
out the  heathen  soil,  and  take  root,  and  abide  "  till  the  spirit 
be  poured  out  from  on  high."  The  preparations  for  bringing 
about  such  a  state  of  things  are  so  out  of  the  usual  course,  and 
press  so  hard  upon  each  other,  that  the  Lord  seems  to  be  "  hast- 
ening" his  work  and  to  indicate  that  there  remains  but  a  short 
period  before  he  will  "  appear  to  men  in  his  glory"  and  a  much 


222  AN   UNDYING  MISSIONAEY. 

shorter  time  before  the  night  come  that  is  to  precede  the 
heavenly  morning.  Whatsoever  then,  the  hands  of  his  people 
find  to  do,  let  them  do  it  ivith  all  their  might;  there  is  not  an 
hour  to  spare.  Your  Bible  Society  may  perhaps  accomplish 
still  more  than  your  Missionary  Society.  It  is  in  my  view  a 
sort  of  providential  substitute  for  the  latter,  when  it  shall 
expire.  Active  and  artful  as  are  the  infernals  with  whom  we 
must  conflict,  they  cannot  easily  elude  or  resist  the  slow  but 
steady  march  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  They  have  formerly 
tried  the  experiment,  and  found  it  much  easier  to  kill  mission- 
aries than  to  banish  Bibles.  During  the  old  persecution.  Hell 
and  its  vicegerents,  the  Eoman  power,  poured  out  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs,  but  they  were  never  able  to  extinguish  the  Scrip- 
tures. In  spite  of  both,  they  remained,  if  I  may  thus  apply 
the  apostle's  words,  "  living  oracles."  Every  Bible  is  a  mis- 
sionary that  preaches  Jesus  and  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the 
resurrection  through  faith  in  his  blood.  It  can  be  easily  con- 
cealed, cheaply  supported,  secretly  consulted ;  it  never  grows 
old,  superannuated,  or  sick,  and  where  one  Bible  is  preserved 
in  a  nation,  there  is  a  spark  of  celestial  fire,  which  shall  break 
forth  into  a  flame  to  chase  away  darkness  :  there  is  the  germ  of  a 
glorious  church,  which  the  "  priest  upon  his  throne"  shall  cher- 
ish and  bring  to  maturity.  But  I  am  borne  away.  Put  my 
name  down  for annually.  Some  subscribers  may  be  pos- 
sibly obtained.  We  have  here,  and  you  have  in  London,  mul- 
tiplied calls  for  charitable  uses.  I  am  sorry  we  do  not  bleed 
so  freely  as  John  Bull.  Most  of  our  wealthy  people  have 
apparently  their  portion  in  this  life,  and  are  very  backward  in 
furnishing  means  of  access  to  a  better.  Our  western  mission 
is  in  a  prosperous  state  ;  the  gospel  we  find  has  taken  hold  of 
the  Indians ;  but  you  will  grieve  to  hear  that  our  establishment 
is  on  the  point  of  perishing  for  want  of  pecuniary  means.  One 
hundred  pounds  sterling  in  addition  per  annum  to  our  little 
funds  will  completely  maintain  it.  The  Directors  yesterday 
passed  a  resolution  to  request  from  the  congregations  of  this 
city  an  annual  collection.  If  it  succeed,  we  shall  be  able  to 
keep  our  ground;  if  not,  to  abandon  the  fairest  prospect  of 
evangelizing  the  Pagans  ever  offered  to  the  American  Chris- 
tian, and  to  sit  down  mourning  in  disgrace. 


"first  ripe  feuits."  '      223 

Tell  mj  brother  Wangh  be  owes  me  two  or  three  letters.  I 
am  afraid  he  is  engaging  in  a  secession  less  reputable  than  the 
secession  frae  the  Kirk  0^ Scotland,  even  a  secession  from  the 
honest  community  which  pays  its  debts.  He  knows  how  to 
clear  himself. 

Can  you  tell  me  who  wrote  that  stupid  thing  which  is  stuck 
before  the  volume  ycleped  "First  Eipe  Fruits,"  and  which 
names  itself  a  memoir  of  your  humble  servant?  Yerily,  your 
London  type-setters  are  saucy  blades.  If  it  will  gain  two  or 
three  dribbling  half-crowns,  they  make  no  more  difficulty  of 
sporting  with  one's  feelings  than  of  trussing  up  a  chicken.  It 
was  surely  enough  to  cabbage  the  goods  without  caricaturing 
the  owner. 


CnAPTER   XVIII. 

1805. 

THK    SEMINARY. 

riaii  Adopted — Dr.  Mason's  Viewa — Address  to  the  Churches — Remarks — Letters 
of  Dr.  Morse  and  I'r.  Wilson. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod,  held  Ma\',  1805,  the 
plan  submitted  the  year  before  was  thorough]y  discussed,  and 
with  some  small  amendments  was  finally  adopted.  A  solemn 
Act  was  passed  establishing  the  Seminary  on  this  plan. 

Its  first  principle  was,  that  the  Scriptures  themselves  should 
be  the  great  subject  of  study  ;  and  that  what  is  commonly  called 
Systematic  Theology,  should  be  subordinate  thereto. 

The  whole  period  of  study  should  be  four  years. 

A  Board  of  Superintendents  was  constituted,  whose  duties 
were  defined ;  and  who  were  especially  required  to  visit  the  In- 
stitution at  least  once  each  year,  examine  the  students,  keep 
regular  minutes,  and  report  to  the  Synod  at  each  stated  meeting. 

Provision  was  to  be  made  in  whole  or  in  part,  for  such  stud 
cuts  as  could  not  command  the  necessary  means  of  defra3'ing 
their  own  expenses. 

Further  details  need  not  here  be  given.  The  entire  plan,  it 
is  evident,  aims  at  a  high  standard  of  ministerial  qualifications 
as  it  respects  both  piety  and  learning.  Great  stress  is  laid 
upon  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Sacred  Scrijitures  in 
their  original  languages,  as  well  as  in  our  vernacular  version; 
and  also  upon  such  other  branches  of  learning  as  may  aid  in 
illustrating  and  impressing  them.  The  Bible  itself,  rather  than 
any  body  of  divinity,  was  intended  to  be  the  text-book  of  the 
institution.  Br.  Mason  had  a  deep  conviction  that  divine 
truth,  as  contained  in  the  volume  of  revelation,  was  the  great 


THE  MOST  PROMINENT  FEATURE.  225 

instrument  ordained  from  heaven  for  the  conversion  and  salva- 
tion of  fallen  man  ;  and  that  therefore  its  ministers  must  be 
skilled  in  drawing  their  instructions  directly  from  that  fountain. 
He  by  no  means  despised  theological  dissertations  and  systems, 
but  yet  felt  a  strong  preference  for  the  sacred  volume  as  fur- 
nishing the  preacher  for  his  work.  He  wished  the  student  to 
go  directly  to  the  Bible  itself  to  learn  what  the  Bible  teaches. 
He  wished  him  to  use  and  cultivate  his  own  faculties  in  the  in- 
vestigation and  employment  of  the  Scriptures  themselves  for 
securing  the  great  objects  of  the  ministry.  He  felt  convinced 
that  this  method  was  essential  for  the  due  freshness  and  force 
of  our  evangelical  preaching.  "  I  wish,"  said  he  to  his  students, 
"  I  wish  your  minds  to  be,  not  like  reservoirs  filled  with  what 
is  put  into  them  ;  but  like  living  and  perennial  fountains  inter- 
nally connected  with  the  fathomless  ocean  of  God's  truth,  and 
supplying  themselves  from  it  by  their  own  action.  Thai  which 
is  filled  hy  pumping  in^  will  he  emptied  by  pumping  outy  At  the 
same  time  he  considered  it  the  best  guard  against  those  philo- 
sophical theories  into  which  the  learned  classes  have  a  propen- 
sity to  wander.  Probably  he  had  an  apprehension  of  rising 
tendencies,  and  with  alarm  anticipated  such  influences  as  have 
in  the  progress  of  this  century  spread  from  Germany  over  the 
greater  part  of  Christendom.  Whether  he  did  or  did  not  dis- 
tinctly discern  these  things,  it  is  certain,  that  his  method  of 
preparing  young  men  for  the  ministry,  as  well  as  his  own 
practice  in  the  pulpit,  was  eminently  calculated  to  counteract 
and  prevent  them.  He  felt  not  less  anxious  about  the  right 
kind  of  training  for  the  rising  ministry,  than  about  an  adequate 
supply  of  ministers.  His  plan  was  as  remote  from  the  fascinat- 
ing speculations  of  the  philosopher,  as  they  were  from  the  dry 
technicalities  of  the  schools. 

The  earnestness  with  which  he  was  intent  upon  the  success 
of  the  Seminary,  appears  further  from  the  appeal,  which,  with 
characteristic  force,  was,  by  order  of  the  Synod,  addressed  to 
the  churches  under  their  care.  This  appeal,  though  of  consid- 
erable length,  cannot  be  well  omitted  : — 

Christian  Brethren  :  The  printed  minutes  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  General   Synod  at  their  meeting  in  May  last,  will 
15 


226  LEAENING  ADDED  TO  TALENTS. 

inform  you,  that,  through  the  good  hand  of  their  God  upon 
them,  they  have  at  length  succeeded  in  establishing  a  theologi- 
cal seminary.  This  institution,  the  sole  end  of  which  is  to  pre- 
pare for  the  work  of  the  ministry  young  men  whose  hearts  God 
hath  touched,  will  recommend  itself  to  public-spirited  Christians. 
A  slight  acquaintance  with  the  situation  of  our  country  will 
convince  them  that  there  is  a  most  lamentable  want  of  men  to 
"  labour  in  word  and  doctrine  ;"  especially  of  "  workmen  who 
need  not  to  be  ashamed."  And  it  is  most  certain  that  not 
every  pious  and  zealous  man  is  fit  to  be  a  builder  in  the  house 
of  God.  They  who  are  to  "  instruct,  must  be  instructed."  They 
who  are  to  "  bring  out  of  their  treasury,  things  new  and  old," 
must  have  their  treasury  stored  with  old  things  and  new.  The 
priest's  lips  shotdd  KEEP  knowledge  ;  and  they  shoidd  seek  the 
LAW  AT  HIS  MOUTH  ;  for  he  is  the  messenger  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
It  is  not  seemly  that  one  invested  with  such  a  character,  and 
called  to  such  functions,  should  be  "unskilful  in  the  word  of 
righteousness."  If  he  be  "  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,"  and  pru- 
dent in  his  carriage ;  living  under  the  power  of  those  truths 
which  he  preaches  to  others ;  he  will  "  commend  himself  to 
every  man's  conscience;"  he  will  feed  his  flock  "with  know- 
ledge and  understanding  ;"  and  will  reflect  honour  upon  the  Gos- 
pel. If,  on  the  other  hand,  his  attainments  be  slender ;  if,  with 
the  exception  of  some  plain  doctrinal  passages,  the  Bible  be  to 
him  a  sealed  book ;  if  he  is  not  able  to  remove  ordinary  scru- 
ples, nor  to  stop  the  mouths  of  gainsayers  ;  if  serious  and  sen- 
sible hearers  do  not  obtain  more  satisfactory  views  of  Divine 
things  and  the  Divine  word,  ivith  his  aid  than  without  it ;  he 
may  enjoy  a  transient  popularity;  he  may  even  become  the 
leader  of  an  impassioned  multitude;  but  he  will  not  "build  up 
believers  in  their  most  holy  fuith;"  he  will  not  be  surrounded 
by  steady  Christians,  whose  firmness  may  be  counted  upon  in 
the  hour  of  trial ;  nor,  in  the  end,  will  he  fail  to  bring  contempt 
upon  himself,  and  what  is  infinitely  worse,  a  reproach  upon  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  None  decry  talents  and  learning  in 
the  ministry  but  those  who,  being  destitute  of  both,  "  under- 
stand neither  what  they  say,  nor  whereof  they  aflirm."  And  if 
they  assume  to  be  teachers  themselves,  it  is  the  interest  of  their 
vanity  to  prevent  others  from  rising  above  their  own  level. 


MEASURES   OF  THE   SYNOD,  227 

However  such  men  rail  against  literature,  be  assured,  brethren, 
that  an  ignorant  ministry  is  a  dreadful  curse.  You  have  only 
to  inspect  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  the  history  of  past  times, 
to  perceive  its  mischievous  tendency.  Yet  this  is  the  very  evil 
to  which  the  age  inclines.  You  recoil  at  the  thought  of  its 
progress  ;  and  you  ask,  How  shall  it  be  arrested  ?  We  answer, 
that  while  the  Lord  alone  can  teach  men  to  speak  because  they 
believe ;  and  while  he  alone  can  thrust  forth  labourers  who 
shall  be  ultimately  successful,  there  are  means  within  your  own 
reach ;  means,  the  use  of  which  you  may  lawfully  connect  with 
the  hope  of  his  blessing;  and  of  which  the  further  neglect  will 
bring  guilt  upon  your  consciences,  calamity  upon  your  churches, 
and,  it  may  be,  ruin  upon  your  children.  The  means  to  which 
we  more  particularly  refer,  is 

Provision  for  the  Instruction  of  your 
FUTURE  MINISTERS. 

The  Synod,  thus  far,  have  done  their  part.  They  have  seized 
the  earliest  opportunity  of  founding  a  Seminary  where  youth 
may  acquire  much  of  that  cultivation  which  is  indispensable  to 
a  well-appointed  ministry.  Had  their  encouragement  been 
greater,  they  would  have  adopted  this  measure  sooner;  and  it 
is  not  their  fault  that  the  churches  are  not  now  rejoicing  in  its 
happy  effects.  But  though  they  have  encountered  many  em- 
barrassments ;  though  they  have  seen,  with  anguish,  the  back- 
wardness of  their  people  in  supporting  their  efforts;  yet  they 
cherish  strong  hopes  from  the  turn  which  matters  have  more 
recently  taken.  The  liberality  of  Christians  abroad  which  has 
furnished  them  with  an  excellent  library ;  the  reviving  spirit 
which  pervades  some  parts  of  their  own  body  at  home ;  and 
their  harmony  in  digesting  the  plan  of  instruction,  they  would 
consider  as  presages  that  their  "  labour  shall  not  be  in  vain  in 
the  Lord." 

On  perusing  their  "  Act  relative  to  a  Theological  Seminary.^'' 
you  will  observe  that  they  aim  at  a  more  extensive  and  solid 
education  for  the  ministry  than  has  been  usual  in  these  States. 
They  are  sensible  that  their  plan  is  at  war  with  those  loose  and 
superficial  habits  which  threaten  the  extirpation  of  all  sound 


228  A   PROPER  STANDARD. 

learning;  that  some  will  think  the  period  of  instruction  too  long 
— that  others  will  suj)pose  the  extent  of  the  country  requires 
different  seminaries — and  that  many  will  view  the  expense  as 
an  insuperable  obstacle.  All  these  things  have  been  antici- 
pated. The  deliberations  of  the  Synod  were  never  more  cau- 
tious than  when  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  their  Seminary. 
Difficulties  were  carefull}'  surveyed ;  and,  excepting  a  small 
division  on  a  very  few  of  the  less  important  articles,  you  have, 
in  their  act,  the  expression  of  their  unanimous  voice. 

1.  Av/are  how  criminal  it  is  to  trifle  with  those  invaluable 
interests  which  are  committed  to  the  ministry  of  reconciliation^ 
they  resolved  to  inquire,  not  what  is  customary,  but  what  is 
right;  to  make  a  stand  against  the  inroads  of  destructive  fash- 
ion ;  and  to  fix  the  education  of  their  own  youth  upon  a  proper 
basis.  Under  such  impressions  they  have  appointed  a  course 
of  studies  which  they  laioiv  to  be  of  the^rs^  necessity ;  and  which, 
with  the  Lord's  blessing,  will  repay  the  diligence  of  the  student, 
and  the  patronage  of  the  churches. 

2.  In  the  present  relaxed  state  of  preparation  for  the  minis- 
try, it  is  not  unnatural  that/owr  years  should  appear  to  many  an 
unreasonable  length  of  time  to  be  consumed  in  previous  study. 
The  answer  is  plain.  Four  years  run  rapidly  by.  Indolence 
orxonceit  may  fret  at  the  detention  :  but  the  modest  youth  who 
husbands  his  opportunities,  will  not  find  an  hour  to  linger. 
Such  as  can  form  an  estimate  of  Christian  literature,  will  pro- 
nounce the  period  to  be  short  enough.  Such  as  cannot,  and  are 
therefore  incompetent  judges,  should  submit  to  the  opinion  of 
those  who  have  made  the  trial ;  and  have  ascertained  by  sor- 
rowful experience,  how  hard,  often  how  impossible  it  is.  after 
entering  into  the  ministry,  to  complete  those  studies  which 
ought  to  have  been  completed  hefore. 

"The  wants  of  the  churches"  have  no  force  in  this  argu- 
ment ;  because  it  is  infinitely  better  for  them  to  wait  a  little 
longer,  and  be  well  supplied,  than  to  be  condemned  to  spiritual 
penury  for  a  series  of  years,  by  the  settlement  of  unqualified 
men :  and  because  the  delay  will  be  felt  only  for  a  year  or  two 
at  first;  after  which,  if  the  Seminary  be  fed,  there  will  be  aregu 
lar  succession  of  preachers. 

3.  The  immense  tract  of  country  over  which  our  congrega- 


ONE   AT  A  TIME — LIBRARY.  229 

tions  are  scattered,  and  the  hardships  of  travelling  from 
the  extremes,  do  certainly  render  it  inconvenient  to  assemble 
our  students  in  one  pla.ce  ;  and  it  may  be  asked,  why  steps  were 
not  taken  to  meet  this  difficulty  in  the  beginning  ?  Why 
several  seminaries  are  not  erected  in  such  a  manner  as  to  con- 
sult our  geographical  positions?  The  questions  are  natural, 
and  merit  respectful  notice.  It  may  be  replied,  in  general, 
that  we  cannot  control  circumstances,  but  are  controlled  by 
them.  And  a  number  of  them  have  concurred  to  hinder,  at 
present,  the  planting  of  more  seminaries  than  one. 

First. — It  has  been  a  work  of  nine  years  to  plant  one;  and  com- 
mon prudence  dictates  that  this  one  should  be  watered,  and 
take  root,  and  gather  strength,  before  we  think  of  more.  The 
whole  supply  will  be  little  enough  for  its  nourishment ;  and  if 
it  be  distributed  among  a  number,  none  of  them  will  have  suf- 
ficient, and  all  will  languish. 

Second. — At  the  commencement  of  a  new  system  of  education, 
it  is  Avise  to  have  our  attention  and  affections  concentred;  that 
the  experiment  may  be  fair,  the  plan  perfected,  and  a  model 
framed  for  future  and  subordinate  institutions.  Communities, 
like  individuals,  succeed  best  by  doing  one  thing  at  a  time.  If 
different  parts  of  a  body  which  has  not  yet  organised  its  strength, 
pursue  at  once  different  objects  of  the  same  kind,  more  toil  and 
money  will  be  expended,  and  less  done  to  the  purpose,  than  if 
the  whole  act  together,  and  bring  their  united  force  to  bear 
upon  the  several  points  of  a  common  system,  as  their  need  shall 
direct,  and  their  means  permit. 

Third. — A  theological  seminary  without  a  library  is  good  for 
nothing.  Every  one,  therefore,  must  have  its  own  library.  To 
divide  that  which  is  already  in  the  Synod's  possession,  would 
be  to  destroy  it,  and  misapply  the  bounty  of  their  benefactors. 
The  books  which  would  be  most  indispensable  to  other  semi- 
naries, are  precisely  those  which  can  least  be  spared.  And  to 
furnish  every  seminary  with  a  library  for  itself,  would  absorb  a 
larger  capital  than  can  be  raised ;  not  to  mention  that  a  number 
of  the  most  useful  books  are  very  scarce,  and  are  not  to  be  had 
in  this  country ;  and  frequently  not  from  Europe,  even  were 
there  no  want  of  mone3\ 

Eourth. — The  advantage  of  several  seminaries  would  hardly 


230  LOCATION — EXPENSE   OF  THE   CITY. 

compensate  as  yet  for  the  additional  trouble  and  cost.  The  distance 
from  each,  though  certainly  less,  would  still  be  great  to  a  large 
portion  of  the  students;  and  the  real  benefit  confined  to  a  few. 
Perhaps,  too,  the  disadvantages,  in  other  particulars,  might  over- 
balance the  advantage  of  local  accommodation.  After  all,  both 
good  and  evil  are  magnified  in  prospect ;  and  it  is  neither  im- 
possible nor  improbable  that  our  difficulties  will  be  less  formid- 
able in  fact  than  they  are  in  speculation. 

Lastly. —  One  seminary  is  now  adequate,  and  will  be  adequate 
for  some  time  hereafter,  to  the  whole  number  of  our  students. 
When  it  shall  cease  to  be  so,  will  be  the  proper  season  for  pro- 
jecting more. 

4.  The  inexpediency  of  more  seminaries  than  one  being  ad- 
mitted, many  will  still  suppose  that  the  spot  for  that  one  has 
not  been  well  selected.  Cities  are  generally  expensive;  and 
New  York  is  undeniably  so  at  this  moment.  Young  men, 
who  could  support  themselves  comfortably  at  home  or  in  some 
more  retired  situation,  will  find  their  resources  too  scanty  for 
New  York ;  and  many  be  deterred  by  that  alone  from  the  prose- 
cution of  their  studies. 

The  difficulty  is  obvious;  and  is  one  of  the  most  serious 
which  we  have  to  encounter.  It  is  not,  however,  insurmounta- 
ble; and  there  are  considerations,  which,  when  duly  weighed, 
may  reconcile  the  churches  to  the  plan. 

An  effective  seminary  must  be  attended  with  expense,  wher- 
ever it  be  fixed;  and  an  expense  greater  than  would  be 
suspected  by  such  as  are  not  accustomed  to  the  proper  com- 
putations. The  notion  of  an  institution  that  shall  cost  nothing, 
or  but  a  trifle,  and  shall  yet  educate,  in  a  suitable  manner,  the 
rising  ministry  of  a  church,  respectable  for  numbers  and  extend- 
ing every  day,  is  no  better  than  a  dream.  Iler  friends,  therefore, 
must  either  abandon  the  design  altogether,  and  with  it  their 
own  most  precious  interests;  or  they  must  incur  expense,  and 
devise  methods  of  meeting  it.  There  is  no  other  alternative; 
and  it  would  be  folly  to  conceal  or  disguise  the  truth.  In  de- 
ciding on  the  'place^  their  first  inquiry  is,  Where  their  object  can 
he  best  obtained? 

If  there  be  a  choice  of  situations,  they  will  of  course  compare 
the   advantages   and   disadvantages   of   each,    with   a   special 


CITY  AND   COUNTY  COMPARED.  231 

reference  to  their  finances.  And  after  they  have  reviewed  all 
those  which  would  answer  their  purpose,  they  may  discover 
that  in  a  place  where  much  would  be  saved  on  some  accounts, 
much  would  be  lost  on  others;  but  that  the  difference,  upon  the 
whole,  is  not  so  great  as  to  justify  the  smallest  risk  of  injuring 
their  institution. 

Reasons  will  suggest  themselves  to  a  reflecting  mind  for  pre- 
ferring a  spot  among  the  oldei-  settlements.  The  state  of  society 
is  more  matured,  more  stable,  and  therefore  yields  not  only 
more  convenience,  but  also  a  surer  rule  of  calculation.  Pecu" 
niary  and  literary  aid  can  more  easily  be  had ;  and  is  less  liable 
to  interruption.  Ordinances,  ministers,  judicatories,  ai'e  more 
accessible.  The  students  must  be  expected  to  bear  some  pro- 
portion to  the  population:  and  it  is  prudent  to  consult  the 
comfort  of  the  greatest  possible  number.  But,  to  whatever 
district  your  seminary  be  assigned,  you  must  select  for  its  site 
a  country  place,  or  a  village,  or  a  large  town  or  city.  Without 
minutely  examining  their  relative  pretensions,  it  may  be  re- 
marked : — 

First. — That  in  either  of  the  first  two,  it  might  be  necessary  to 
erect  buildings,  and  to  provide  the  whole  support  of  the  teacher, 
neither  of  which  are  wanted  at  present.  Now  the  interest  of  the 
capital  sunk  in  the  one,  with  occasional  repairs,  and  the  reve- 
nue appropriated  to  the  other,  would  be  more  than  the  excess 
of  other  expenses  attached  to  a  city  establishment  above  those 
of  an  establishment  in  the  country  or  a  village. 

Second. — That  in  the  nature  of  things,  an  extra  share  of  expense 
will  fall  upon  that  portion  of  the  church  which  immediately 
encircles  the  Seminary  ;  and  therefore  it  ought  to  be  set  down 
in  a  place  which  will  not  be  materially  affected  by  such  a  cir- 
cumstance. Were  it  endowed  with  ample  funds,  this  argumen- 
tation would  be  superseded,  but  in  its  infant  state  is  decisive; 
and,  in  conjunction  with  other  things,  will  show  that  the  Synod 
have  not  been  ill-advised  in  pitching  upon  New  York. 

Such  a  place  has  advantages  which  are  worth  paying  for. 
Choice  of  Christian  society  ;  all  sorts  of  literary  help  ;  opportu- 
nities of  seeing  a  variety  of  gifts  and  excellences  in  different 
stations ;  of  studying  the  human  character  under  a  multitude 
of  aspects,  and  with  little  trouble,  &c. ;  all  which  are  without 


232  PECULIAR  CLAIMS   OF  NEW  YORK. 

price  to  an  observant  3'outh.  Our  people  in  New  York  have 
cherished  the  Seminary  with  peculiar  affection.  Their  contri- 
bution, always  liberal,  amounted  for  the  last  year  to  more  than 
double  any  former  sum.*  There  is  no  prospect  of  its  diminish- 
ing, but  rather  of  its  increase.  The  presence  of  the  students 
will  tend  to  keep  alive  tliis  laudable  zeal,  and  to  attract  the 
patronage  of  individuals  whom  God  has  distinguished  with  this 
world's  good.  Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  a  removal  of  the  Semi- 
nary would  be  followed  with  a  greater  reduction  of  income  than 
of  expenditure. 

Much  being  thus  secured  on  the  score  of  general  utilit}'-,  and 
nothing  surrendered  on  that  of  economy,  there  can  be  no  just 
ground  of  complaint  against  the  existing  arrangement;  and  it 
becomes  the  common  concern  to  facilitate  the  operations  of  our 
long-wished-for  Institution. 

Let  our  friends  and  brethren  correctly  understand  what  is 
expected.  The  students  must  appl}'-  to  their  studies  without 
distraction.  Some  of  them  will  require  no  pecuniary  assistance; 
some  must  be  supported  in  part,  and  some  altogether.  That 
they  may  not  "lose  the  things  which  they  have  wrought,"  the 
Synod  must  have  it  in  their  power  to  say  to  their  youth,  "Be 
under  no  anxiety  for  3'our  maintenance;  produce  Avhat  you 
can,  and  if  it  be  not  enough,  we  will  take  care  of  the  balance. 
Only  be  sober,  be  diligent,  and  repay  in  improvement  what 
you  receive  in  money."  If  this  be  not  accomplished,  past 
eftbrts  and  liberality  are  thrown  away;  and,  humanly  speak- 
ing, there  is  nothing  now  wanting  to  carry  into  effect  a  better 
system  of  preparation  for  the  holy  ministry  than  has  been  hith- 
erto introduced  into  the  United  States,  but  a  little  exertion  on 
the  part  of  our  churches ;  nothing  but  a  decent  regard  to  some 
of  the  strongest  obligations  which  can  bind  the  soul  of  a  Chris- 
tian. We  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  tender  mercies  of  our 
God  ;  by  the  value  which  you  set  upon  His  Gospel ;  by  your 
sympathy  with  those  who  languish  under  a  famine  of  His 
Word ;  by  your  regard  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  your  own 
children,  when  you  shall  have  gone  to  give  up  your  accounts; 
that  you  refuse  not  to  encourage  and  assist  the  youth  wiio  step 

•  The  aggregate  of  contributions  to  the  public  fund,  for  the  year  ending  May, 
1805,  is  $1,380  ;  and  of  this,  $804  arc  from  the  City  of  New  Yorli. 


POWERFUL   CONSIDERATIONS.  233 

forward  to  consecrate  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  Lord 
your  Kedeeraer.  They  are  your  property;  they  are  your  hope. 
No  man  can  tell  what  blessings  he  may  be  instrumental  in 
bringing  down  upon  himself,  his  family,  his  neighbourhood,  his 
country,  by  fostering  an  institution  from  which  are  to  issue 
future  ambassadors  of  the  cross.  Such  institutions  were  among 
the  earliest  cares  of  the  primitive  and  reformed  churches ;  and 
to  their  influence,  under  the  sanction  of  the  good  Spirit  of  your 
God,  do  you  owe  the  soundness  of  your  faith  ;  the  purity  of 
your  worship  ;  your  religious  light ;  that  very  ministry  which 
you  profess  to  revere  and  to  love — nay,  that  Divine  Scripture 
which  is  in  your  hands.  Far  from  you  be  the  base  and  ignoble 
principle  which  would  whisper  that  "you  have  no  more  to  do 
with  those  who  dedicate  themselves  to  the  ministry,  than  with 
apprentices  to  any  other  employment,  till  they  offer  themselves, 
already  prepared,  for  your  approbation."  He  is  a  singular 
Christian  who  can  persuade  himself  that  the  church  of  God,  which 
has  a  charge  over  every  baptized  infant,  has  no  concern  in  the 
rearing  of  those  who  are  to  dispense  to  her  the  Word  of  Life.  And 
far  from  you  be  the  principle,  equally  base  and  ignoble,  which 
stops  the  ears  and  closes  the  hand  whenever  a  pittance  is  asked 
for  the  most  sacred  use.  A  Utile  from  each  of  you  will  nurture  a 
Seminary  which,  so  far  as  human  means  can  go,  bids  fair  to  adorn 
your  pulpits  with  "burning  and  shining  lights."  Yours  will 
be  the  consolation  of  compliance,  and  yours  the  guilt  of  neglect. 
You  may  say  that  "  we  cannot  tell  whether  the  young  men 
whom  we  propose  to  educate  for  the  ministry,  will  answer 
our  expectations  ;  that,  after  they  have  been  trained  up  at  our 
expense,  they  may  desert  our  connexion,  or  betake  themselves  to 
other  professions ;  and  therefore,  that  it  is  profusion,  and  not 
charity,  to  lay  out  money  upon  such  an  experiment."  Be  it 
so !  but  for  consistency's  sake,  let  the  same  doctrine  govern  3^ou 
in  other  things.  Never  put  a  plough  into  the  ground,  because 
you  cannot  tell  whether  your  crop  may  not  be  blasted,  and  then 
you  will  lose  your  seed.  Never  send  your  son  to  school,  be- 
cause you  cannot  tell  but  he  may  abuse  his  knowledge  to  the 
breaking  of  your  heart ;  and  then  it  would  have  been  better  for 
him  to  be  as  ignorant  as  the  beast  he  rides  upon ;  and  you  will 
lose  the  expense  of  his  tuition  into  the  bargain.     There  is  no  one 


234  OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 

duty  which  such  an  objection  cannot  set  aside.  Means  are 
ours;  events  are  God's.  And  we  liave  no  more  right  to  expect 
that  he  will  provide  our  churches  with  ministers,  if  we  omit 
the  appropriate  means  of  obtaining  them,  than  that  He  will 
clothe  our  fields  and  replenish  our  garners,  if,  under  pretext  of 
trusting  in  His  providence,  we  never  handle  a  plough  or  a  sickle  ! 
If  any  one  pretend,  that  in  soliciting  your  beneficence  to 
their  public  fund,  the  Synod  have  laid  schemes  for  oppress- 
ing or  incommoding  j^ou  hereafter,  he  is  either  deceived  or 
wicked.  They  have  freely  communicated  their  plans.  Let 
facts  interpret  their  motives.  And  when,  on  looking  around, 
you  behold  every  Presbytery  under  their  inspection  deriving 
benefit,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  the  application  of  their 
fund,  pronounce  for  yourselves  whether  they  have  plotted 
your  hurt,  or  sought  your  happiness.  With  boldness,  there- 
fore, they  appeal  to  you  again.  Thrice  have  they,  in  their 
judicial  capacity,  laid  before  you,  on  this  subject,  their  ardent 
wishes  founded  on  your  own  wants.  In  their  act  concerning  a 
Synodical  fund,  passed  May  1796,  and  in  their  pastoral  ad- 
dresses of  1801  and  1802,  their  recommendations  have  been 
seconded  b}^  the  voice  of  Presbyteries  and  ministers;  yet  it  has 
been  their  mortification  to  witness  a  strange  supineness  in  many 
of  their  congregations.  "Will  you  not  permit  them,  brethren,  to 
augur  better  things?  Shall  your  name,  year  after  year,  be 
stigmatized  with  the  reproach  of  withholding  a  trifle  of  your 
substance  from  a  generous  attempt  to  build  up  the  church  of 
your  God?  How  does  such  a  reluctance,  in  a  matter  involving 
both  your  honour  and  your  privilege,  consist  with  spiritual- 
mindedness,  and  "a  treasure  laid  up  in  heaven?"  How  can 
you  sit  down  under  the  shame  of  being  less  concerned  for  your- 
selves than  are  Christians  at  the  distance  of  three  thousand 
miles,  whose  munificence  has  enabled  you  to  begin  your  Semi- 
nary with  high  advantage,  and  left  to  your  public  spirit  the 
light  and  pleasant  task  of  carrying  it  on  ?  How  can  you  recon- 
cile it  to  your  sense  of  justice,  that  a  small  portion  of  your 
brethren  should  lavish  their  property  in  bearing  your  burdens, 
while  many  of  you,  more  opulent  than  some  who  have  set  you  an 
example^  not  only  decline  bearing  their  burdens  in  turn,  but 
even  touching  your  own  with  one  of  your  fingers?     Had  all 


CONSEQUENCES  OF  FAILURE.  235 

acted  thus — had  all  been  eager  to  reap  the  profit  of  exertions 
not  their  own,  what  now  had  been  our  situation  !  Some  con- 
gregations which  are  settled,  would  have  been  still  vacant — 
some  vacancies  that  were  languishing,  and  beginning  to  flourish, 
would  have  been  dispersed.  In  other  places  ministers  would 
have  been  worn  out  in  extra  duties,  and  their  charges  deprived 
of  labours  which  they  now  statedly  enjoy.  It  is  as  clear  as  the 
light,  that  in  so  far  as  our  public  fund  has  been  the  instrument 
of  our  prosperity,  those  congregations  and  individuals  who  con- 
tribute not  their  quota,  are  really,  though  unintentionally, 
working  for  the  common  ruin.  And  if  this  same  disposition 
continue,  much  more  if  it  spread,  the  most  sanguine  will,  at 
length,  be  discouraged,  and  the  most  patient  grow  weary.  The 
fabric  which  we  are  striving  to  rear  will  crumble  to  pieces ;  the 
hope  of  a  skilful  ministry  will  vanish ;  and  all  the  dismal  con- 
sequences will  lie  at  the  door  of  those  who  withdrew  their 
shoulders  from  the  yoke. 

If  we  use  not  flattering  words,  brethren,  it  is  because  we  are 
deeply  serious;  and  because  we  are  well  assured,  that  if  your 
Seminary  perish,  there  is  no  human  expedient  to  save  your 
churches  from  desolation.  Here,  then,  is  an  object  which  enter- 
ing into  the  essence  of  your  social  stability,  prefers  a  claim  upon 
your  purse  which  you  cannot  innocently  resist.  In  vain  do  you 
pray  "that  Satan's  kingdom  may  be  destroyed,  and  the  king- 
dom of  grace  advanced,"  if  you  will  give  nothing  toward  the 
means  to  which  the  Lord  has  directed  for  that  end.  We  repeat 
it,  a  little  from  each  of  you  is  enough.  Who  will  grudge  a  few 
miserable  shillings  once  a  twelvemonth,  in  an  affair  of  such 
magnitude?  Who  will  be  the  poorer  at  the  year's  end?  or  ven- 
ture to  insinuate  that  the  Son  of  God,  whose  is  "the  earth  and 
the  fulness  thereof,"  will  remain  in  bis  debt  for  such  a  donation? 
The  duty  is  plain,  the  promise  pointed: — "Honour  the  Lord 
with  thy  substance,  and  with  the  first  fruits  of  all  thine  increase; 
so  shall  thy  barns  be  filled  with  plenty,  and  thy  presses  shall 
burst  out  with  new  wine."  Do  not  act,  brethren,  as  if  the  word 
of  your  God  were  unworthy  of  your  trust.  Let  it  never  be  for- 
gotten that  He  loill  have  a  share  of  our  property ;  and  if  we  de- 
fraud Him  of  our  free-will  offering,  of  the  "  first  fruits  of  all  our 
increase,"  He  will  wrest  from  our  hands  that  abused  wealth  for 


236  THE   STRONGEST  MOTIVES. 

"which  we  do  not  make  Ilini  an  acknowledgment  in  land.  Many 
a  delinquency  of  this  sort  has  been  punished  with  a  bad  debt, 
or  a  bad  crop :  and  no  man  ever  gains  by  the  commutation. 
The  winds  of  heaven,  the  devouring  insect,  or  a  famishing 
drought,  often  takes  away  more  at  a  blow,  than  would  be  de- 
manded for  sacred  uses  in  twenty  years.  Come  then,  brethren, 
and  let  us  join  our  tribute  to  the  temple  of  God.  Follow  up 
with  3'our  public  spirit  the  token  for  good  which  we  already 
see.  Gladden  the  hearts  of  those  noble  youth  who  are  very 
jealous  for  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts ;  and  who  look  to  you  as 
patrons  and  benefactors.  As  the  Lord  hath  prospered  you^  is  the 
rule.  Let  the  rich  man  rise  up  with  his  gold ;  and  let  not  the 
widow  blush  for  her  mite.  The  Lord  will  see,  and  will  gra- 
ciously reward  :  for  "He  loveth  a  cheerful  giver."  It  is,  more- 
over, a  statute  of  His  kingdom,  that  he  which  soweth  sparingly, 
shall  reap  also  sparingly  ;  and  he  "  which  soweth  bountifully, 
shall  reap  also  bountifully."  Do  you  believe  His  truth  ?  Let 
the  proof  appear  in  your  next,  and  the  succeeding  annual  re" 
turns.  Not  one  of  you  will  repent  as  having  done  too  much, 
when  he  comes  to  the  bed  of  death,  and  contrasts  things  carnal 
and  temporal,  with  things  spiritual  and  eternal.  Eefresh  our 
bowels,  brethren.  And  may  the  Lord  himself  "  open  the  win- 
dows of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing  till  there  be  not 
room  to  receive  it." 

By  order  of  the  General  Synod, 

J.  M.  MASON, 
A.  TROUDFIT. 
NewYork,1805. 

The  institution  thus  established  became  generally  known  as 
Dr.  Mason's  Seminary.  It  originated  with  him  as  early  as 
1796,  and  from  that  day  he  never  lost  sight  of  it.  He  did  far 
more  than  any  other  man  to  put  it  into  operation  andto  sustain 
it.  He  was,  in  fact,  until  disabled  by  infirmity,  its  life  and  ani- 
mating principle. 

Nor  is  it  claiming  too  much  for  this  institution  when  it  is 
regarded  as  taking  the  lead  in  a  train  of  similar  institutions  in  this 
country.  It  is  true  that  Professors  had  been  appointed  by  churches 
of  various  denominations  at  an  earlier  day  ;  but  they  were  iso- 
lated ;  they  were  without  libraries ;  they  were  without  sustain- 


THE   EARLIEST  AMERICAN   SEMINARY.  237 

ing  and  supervising  boards  ;  tliey  proceeded  without  a  regular 
and  systematic  course  of  operations  under  organized  superin- 
tendencies.  and  without  any  provision  for  supporting  such  stu- 
dents as,  however  promising,  had  no  adequate  pecuniary  means. 
It  is  true,  too,  that  our  oldest  colleges — sach  as  Harvard,  Yale, 
Queen's  (now  Rutgers)— were  founded  with  special  reference  to 
theological  learning.  At  the  same  time  it  is  true,  that  up  to 
1805,  there  was  not  in  all  the  United  States,  any  such  institu- 
tion as  is  now  commonly  understood  by  a  Theological  Semi- 
nary;  especially  one  for  the  prosecution  of  what  may  be  justly 
characterized  as  Biblical  Studies.  In  all  American  Colleges, 
Theology  had  become  altogether  a  secondary  matter,  even  when 
not  wholh^  merged  in  more  general  studies.  And  private 
teachers,  though  sometimes  styled  Professors,  scarcely  pre- 
tended to  lift  the  covering  from  those  rich  treasures  of  the  most 
useful  knowledge  which  lie  concealed  under  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  languages,  oriental  customs,  and  the  antiquities  of  vari- 
ous nations.  Such  attention  as  is  now  paid  to  these  and  kindred 
subjects,  in  this  country,  cannot  fairly  be  traced  further  back 
than  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  Our  Seminaries 
have  become  preeminently  characterized  as  institutions  for 
studying  theology  hy  investigating  the  Scriptures.  In  this  respect 
they  have  a  claim  to  peculiar  honour,  and  give  promise  of  the 
grandest  results. 

The  followins;  extract  of  a  letter  from  Dr.  J.  Morse  to  Dr. 
Mason,  dated  Charlestown,  Mass.,  April  29,  1806,  afforded  the 
latter  a  gratifying  allusion  to  what  he  was  doing  for  theological 
education  in  New  York,  and  to  what  might  soon  be  expected 
in  New  England  : — 

"Yes,  my  dear  sir,  I  have  received  a  copy  of  your  Synod's 
Act,  establishing  a  Theological  Seminar}^,  for  Avhich  I  thank  you. 
The  plan  meets  my  warm  approbation.  We  contemplate  one 
of  a  similar  kind  in  this  State.  Since  Harvard  College  has 
become  revolutionized  and  brought  under  Unitarian  influence, 
such  an  institution  has  become  indispensable." 

A  few  months  later  Dr.  Morse  writes  again  : — 

"  We  seriously  contemplate  the  establishment  of  a  Theolo- 
gical Academy  at  Andover,  on  a  plan  similar  to  yours.  I  re- 
ceived a  copy  of  the  pamphlet  containing  the  plan  of  yours, 


238  EXPLICIT  TESTIMONY. 

and  published  an  abstract  of  it  in  the  Panoplist  of  January 
last." 

How  many  such  institutions  have  sprung  up  since  !  and  not 
one  of  them,  we  venture  to  say,  without  making  Biblical  re- 
search the  most  prominent  feature.  No  other  would  at  this 
day  satisfy  the  public.  Yet  the  precedence,  in  point  of  time, 
is  claimed  in  some  quarters  for  Andover ! 

The  estimation  in  which  the  Seminary  was  afterwards  held 
in  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  appears  sufficiently  from 
the  language  of  one  of  its  leading  ministers.  In  a  letter  dated 
Philadelphia,  March  16, 1816,  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  R.  Willson 
uses  this  language  :  "  The  year  that  your  Theological  Seminary 
opened  was  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  American  churches. 
I  do  not  mean  to  flatter  you,  or  any  man.  I  know  not  to  give 
flattering  titles.  But  truth  is  truth.  God  made  you  an  instru- 
ment in  planting  a  tree  which  has  yielded  wholesome  fruit 
among  us.  You  set  the  example  which  others  have  followed. 
At  this  moment  the  Episcopal  church  is  concentering  its  ener- 
gies. Yes,  they  are  about  to  make  a  grand  effort.  The  more 
light  in  the  church  the  better." 


CHAPTER     XIX. 


CLASSICAL   EDUCATION,    ETC. 

Classical  School — Letter  to  Joseph  Nourse,  Esq. — Letter  to  Mrs.  J.ane  Kerr — 
Letter  to  Mrs.  Joseph  Thomson — Letter  from  the  Kev.  John  Jefferson,  Mis- 
sionary. 

Dr.  Mason  had  great  fondness  for  the  classics  of  Grecian  and 
Roman  antiquity,  and  possessed  a  nice  perception  for  their 
most  exquisite  beauties.  Trained  early  to  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  them,  he  continued  ever  afterwards  to  peruse  them 
with  delight.  He  viewed  them  also  as  among  the  very  best 
instruments  and  means  for  promoting  a  thorough  and  finished 
education.  In  giving  the  mind  the  right  sort  of  discipline  at 
an  early  age,  in  imparting  to  it  an  ample  command  of  language, 
in  enriching  it  with  beautiful  imagery  and  every  form  of 
poetical  conceptions,  in  imbuing  it  with  refined  taste  and  noble 
sentiments,  he  considered  them  almost  indispensable.  The  fol- 
lowing encomium  from  his  pen  may  by  some  be  thought 
extravagant  :  "With  all  who  are  qualified  to  form  a  judgment 
on  the  subject,  there  is  but  one  opinion  as  to  the  importance  of 
classical  education.  Experience  has  shown  that  with  the  study 
or  neglect  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  sound  learning 
flourishes  or  declines.  It  is  now  too  late  for  ignorance,  indo- 
lence, eccentricity,  or  infidelity  to  dispute  what  has  been  rati- 
fied by  the  seal  of  ages.  Whoever  shall  deny  the  superiority 
of  the  ancient  classics  as  models  of  finished  composition,  of 
elevated  sentiment,  of  all  that  belongs  to  disciplined  mind,  will 
forfeit  his  claim  to  the  reputation  of  a  scholar.  But  when  it  is 
considered  that  they  contribute  more  than  any  other  means  to 
expand,  to  strengthen  and  to  polish  the  youthful  intellect;  that 
they  not  only  exemplify,  but  cherish  the  most  refined  literary 


240  PRINCIPLES   FOR  SCHOOLS. 

taste  ;  that  they  promote  the  power  of  patient,  close  and  dis- 
criminating inquiry  ;  that  modern  times  cannot  boast  of  a  truly 
classical  writer  in  his  own  language  who  was  altogether  un- 
acquainted with  them  ;  and,  what  is  of  still  more  serious  con- 
cern, that  in  the  hands  of  such  as  know  how  to  use  them,  they 
are  of  eminent  service  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  those 
invaluable  social  interests  which  depend  upon  it — -zeal  in  their 
defence  becomes  a  virtue,  and  efforts  to  extend  the  study  of 
them  a  duty." 

Such  views,  combining  with  his  enterprising  spirit,  led  him 
at  different  times  into  a  variety  of  exertions  for  both  raising  the 
standard  and  enlarging  the  circle  of  classical  studies.  Among 
other  things,  about  the  year  1805,  he  took  a  very  active  part 
in  establishing  in  New  York  a  select  grammar  school,  of  a 
higher  class  than  generally  prevailed.  He  drew  up  a  plan  in 
minute  detail  for  reguhiting  the  course  of  studies,  for  securing 
a  thorough  mode  of  instruction,  for  promoting  correct  habits, 
and  for  enforcing  salutary  discipline. 

Oa  this  last  pt^int  he  remarks:  "Penalties  are  to  be  so  modi- 
fied and  applied  as  shall  be  found  most  effectual  for  cherishing 
good  habits,  and  superseding  corporal  punishments. 

"  The  corrections  last  mentioned  are  to  be  governed  by  the 
following  principles,  viz. : — 

"1.  They  are  to  be  proportioned  to  the  offence  ;  in  estimat- 
ing wliich  not  only  the  particular  case  is  to  be  considered,  but 
the  general  character  and  conduct.  It  is  absurd,  and  destruc- 
tive of  the  very  end  of  correction,  to  chastise  in  the  same  man- 
ner a  mistake  and  a  crime.  Slight  imperfections  in  an  exercise 
which  do  not  manifestly  proceed  from  willful  and  indulged  sloth 
or  obstinacy,  are  not  objects  of  punishment.  The  most 
diligent  and  docile  will  err,  and  dullness  is  to  be  pitied  and 
assisted. 

"2.  They  are  not  to  be  inflicted  without  absolute  necessity, 
and  therefore  as  seldom  as  possible.  Children  should  never  be 
driven,  but  when  they  cannot  be  allured.  Gentler  means  must 
fail  before  resorting  to  punishment.  The  lash  applied  inces- 
santly and  indiscriminately  hardens  youth  against  its  effects, 
makes  them  hate  and  despise  their  teacher,  and  tempts  them  to 
plot  against  his  peace  and  authority.     It  also  ruins  tliat  more 


IMPROVED  SYSTEM  OF  SCHOOLS.  241 

rational  discipline  wliicb  some  parents  endeavour  to  preserve  in 
their  families. 

"3.  They  are  never  to  be  accompanied  with  passion.  An 
ebullition  of  rage  in  the  teacher,  only  excites  revenge  in  the 
pupil.  The  offender  is  to  be  convinced  of  the  evil  of  his 
offence  before  he  suffers  for  it.  The  teacher's  language,  coun- 
tenance, voice  and  conduct,  must  show  the  offender  himself  and 
all  the  rest,  that  he  is  corrected  from  a  principle  of  love ;  and 
that  it  is  with  the  greatest  reluctance  that  his  teacher  chastises 
him;  that  he  would  not  do  it,  could  he  in  faithfulness  omit  it. 
To  deepen  the  impression,  it  ought  to  be  rendered  as  solemn  as 
possible,  and,  in  some  cases  at  least,  accompanied  with  prayer. 
This  calm,  rational  and  affectionate  method  will  impart  to  dis- 
cipline a  dignity  which  will  command  the  respect  and  awe  of  the 
scholars,  will  operate  powerfully  in  the  prevention  of  offences, 
and  will  consequently  diminish  the  examples  of  severity." 

Dr.  Mason  became  one  of  the  Directors  of  this  school,  and 
personally  paid  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  its  interests.  In 
such  and  other  ways  he  practically  contributed  his  amount  of 
influence  to  the  promotion  of  sound  learning  in  the  community 
— always  viewing  it  as  an  helper  to  the  cause  in  which  he  more 
directly  laboured.  How  far  the  present  state  of  classical  educa- 
tion in  New  York  may  be  connected  with  his  example  and 
efforts  need  not  to  be  determined ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  no 
progress  has  been  made  beyond  the  point  which  he  early  con- 
templated and  sought. 

To  this  school  allusion  is  had  in  the  following  extract  of  a 
letter  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Brown  :  "  My  little  folks  shoot  up 
rapidly,  and  my  anxiety  shoots  up  with  them.  Euphemia,  who 
has  been  home  half  a  year — as  I  could  find  no  school  which 
knew  anything  of  training  the  mind — has  lately  passed  into  the 
care  of  a  Miss  Thomas,  from  England,  who  has  good  sense  as 
well  as  accomplishment ;  who  joins  the  lady  with  the  mistress, 
and  sweetens  authority  with  gentleness.  Both  the  girls  are  im- 
proving under  her  care.  John  and  Abraham  go  to  the  Grammar 
School,  which  Dr.  Abeel,  Dr.  S.  Miller,  Mr.  McLeod  and 
myself,  have  lately  instituted  in  this  city.  We  designed  it  as 
an  experiment  towards  the  melioration  of  our  system  of  prelim- 
inary education,  and  it  succeeds  admirably.  There  is  not  a 
16 


242  DESCRIPTION   OF  NEWBURGH. 

rude  or  idle  boy  in  it.  Two  of  us  visit  it  monthly,  and  not  only 
mark  their  progress,  but  their  manners,  and  their  cleanliness; 
and  blame  or  praise,  reward  or  disgrace,  according  to  the  evi- 
dence of  a  public  ledger,  on  which  ever}'-  day's  deportment  and 
diligence  is  marked.  J.  came  home  this  evening  with  large 
steps  and  glistening  eyes,  an  elegant  note  of  distinction  being 
pendant  from  his  neck  for  exemplary  conduct. 

In  the  same  letter  he  alludes  to  the  yellow  fever  of  1805,  and 
gives  a  description  of  Newburgh,  which  will  be  readily  recog- 
nised as  accurate  at  the  present  time  : 

"  Through  the  tender  mercy  of  our  God,  my  family  was 
not  only  exempted  from  the  epidemic,  (though  I  had  been  in 
several  infected  parts  of  the  city),  but  enjoyed  unusual  health. 
My  lodgings  were  in  the  most  delightful  spot  which  the  village 
of  Newburgh  affords;  on  the  hill  in  the  rear  of  the  town  and 
overlooking  it,  with  a  prospect  of  twenty  miles  upon  the  Hud- 
son ;  terminating  in  view  of  cultivated  acclivities  twelve  miles 
to  the  north,  and  in  the  commencement  of  the  highlands  and 
West  Point,  eight  or  nine  to  the  south.  In  front  of  the  house, 
the  grounds  are  laid  out  in  the  form  of  hanging  gardens ;  the 
greater  part  is  clean  sod,  shaded  by  a  variety  of  trees,  and  a 
pure,  wholesome  air  circulating.  This  was  the  scene  of  my 
children's  gambols ;  and  they  returned  to  the  city  with  ruddy 
cheeks,  vigorous  limbs,  and  fine  spirits. 

"  My  congregation  sustained  no  loss  by  the  fever,  excepting 
in  the  death  of  Thomas  S.  Arden,  bookseller ;  who  was  the  son 
of  good  old  John  Arden,  and  married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Givan, 
at  New  Eochelle.  His  premature  death  has  deeply  afflicted  his 
widowed  mother,  to  whom  he  was  all  that  a  mother  could  wish  a 
son  to  be ;  and  has  extinguished  pleasing  hopes  of  his  useful- 
ness as  an  active  Christian." 

As  repeatedly  seen  before,  the  sensibility  of  Dr.  Mason's 
heart,  always  alive  to  the  afflictions  of  his  friends,  often  found 
utterance  in  communications  like  the  followiu""  : — 

^  TO  JOSEPH  NOURSE,  Esq.,  WASHINGTON  CITY. 

New  York,  June  22,  1805. 

My  very  Dear  Friend  :  Not  a  day  should  have  passed  after 
the  receipt  of  your  kind  and  affecting  letter,  without  my  writing 


A   SIGK  DAUGHTER.  ^43 

to  you,  had  I  not  supposed  that  you  would  be  absent  from 
Washington  before  an  answer  could  reach  you.  I  did  not  re- 
collect that  dispatches  would  follow  you  without  delay  to  any 
part  of  the  country.  That  portion  of  your  letter  which  relates 
to  Maria,  much  moved  and  agitated  me.  Accustomed  to  be  in 
your  family  as  one  of  kindred  blood,  and  having  from  the 
earliest  moment  of  our  acquaintance,  felt  a  peculiar  interest  in 
your  lovely  daughter — an  interest  heightened  by  the  circum- 
stance of  seeing  her  pass  from  childhood  to  maturity,  and 
realize  at  every  step  some  fair  promise  of  her  infancy,  I  learned 
with  deep  emotion  the  unfavourable  state  of  her  health.  Sub- 
sequent inquiries  make  me  afraid  that  your  apprehensions  are 
too  well  founded.  I  claim  a  tender  share  in  your  disappoint- 
ment and  your  anguish.  But,  dear  friend,  sweet  as  are  these 
earthly  sympathies,  they  are  not  worth  mentioning  in  compari- 
son with  the  compassions  of  that  high  priest  of  our  profession, 
who  is  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities.  Blessed  be 
his  name  ;  he  has  redeemed  us  to  God  by  his  blood,  and  has 
promised  to  furnish  us  with  grace  and  mercy  to  help  in  time  of 
need.  He  never  told  us,  that  the  cup  of  suffering  should  pass 
away  from  us ;  but  he  has  told  us  that  we  shall  find  it  a  cup  of 
blessing.  And  what  shall  we  say  ?  Even  what  we  have  said 
a  thousand  times  already : 

"Lord,  we  are  thine  ;  but  thou  Avilt  prove 
Our  faith,  our  patience,  and  our  love  " 

Here  are  we ;  let  him  do  unto  us  as  seeraeth  good  in  his  sight. 
Dear  /riend,  the  point  of  resignation  is  to  acquiesce  in  our 
Father's  pleasure  before  the  stroke  come,  and  while  the  hope 
that  it  may  be  averted  still  flutters  round  our  hearts.  I  have 
often  observed  to  my  people  that  nothing  but  the  Lord's  own 
grace  can  teach  us  to  pray  the  Lord's  prayer.  I  am  sure  that 
nature,  reason,  habit,  will  never  enable  you  to  look  at  your 
fading  flower,  and  say,  "  Tliy  will  be  done !"  But  fellowship 
with  that  Saviour  who  set  us  the  example  when  the  cup  of 
trembling  was  put  to  his  lips  for  our  sakcs,  will  enable  us  to 
say  it ;  will  enable  you  to  take  your  child  by  the  hand,  find  give 
her  up  without  stipulation  to  that  Heavenly  Father  who  allows 
you  at  the  same  moment  to  pour  out  your  heart  before  him. 


244  DEATH   OF   MR,   KERR. 

Adoration  breathe  forth  in  homage  to  his  mercy,  that  she 
does  not  appear  as  a  stranger  to  his  grace.  0 !  this  sanctifies 
alh  I  add  no  more — as  the  affliction  is  my  own — but  that  I 
shall  endeavour  to  write  shortly  to  Maria  herself.  The  Lord 
comfort  you  and  dear  Mrs.  Nourse,  and  the  rest  of  your  family, 
against  grief  on  every  side ! 


The  decease  of  his  esteemed  brother  in  the  Gospel,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Kerr,  called  forth  the  expression  of  his  sympathy  with 
the  widow : — 

TO  MRS.  JANE  KERR,  SAVANNAH. 

New  York,  July  8,  180-5. 

My  DEAR  Madam  :  The  unwelcome  tidings  of  the  affliction 
wherewith  the  Lord  has  afflicted  you,  surprised  us  a  few  daj's 
ago.  Could  the  sympathy  of  earthly  friends  remove  your  sor- 
rows, yoa  would  have  little  occasion  for  tears.  They  can  weep 
with  you,  but  your  aid  and  relief  must  descend  from  above.  Your 
first  duty  is  submission,  absolute  submission.  It  is  the  most 
High  God  who  has  smitten  you ;  and  though  you  may  mourn 
you  may  not  murmur.  "  I  was  dumb,"  said  a  gracious  sufferer, 
whose  example  is  recorded  for  your  imitation,  "  I  opened  not 
my  mouth  because  thou  didst  it."  Often  have  you  said,  in  re. 
pealing  the  Lord's  prayer,  Father,  thy  ivill  he  done.  That  will 
has  taken  effect  in  a  point  which  touches  all  that  is  most  tender 
in  your  tender  heart.  Present  it,  bleeding  as  it  is,  to  his  mercy 
seat.  Ills  name  is,  the  Lord  that  hads  the  broken-hearted.  'There 
is  nothing  in  his  Gospel  to  stifle  the  yearnings  of  nature,  but 
much  to  sooth  and  purify  them.  Nothing  to  rebuke  the  anguish 
of  one  who  has  been  suddenly  torn  from  the  husband  of  her 
youth  ;  but  much  to  soften  it,  and  to  support  her  under  it_ 
Your  affliction  is  great,  it  is  singular ;  but  it  is  mollified  with 
many  mercies,  and  while  it  bears,  and  cannot  but  bear,  heavily 
upon  you,  you  have  reason  to  mingle  praise  with  your  griefs 
and  to  pour  forth  blessing  while  you  pour  forth  lamentation. 
Bless  tll%  name  of  the  Lord,  that  you  do  not  mourn  as  one  that 
has  no  hope  ;  that  you  have  abundant  cause  to  believe  that  your 
dear  husband,  though  severed  from  you,  has  gone  to  he  icith 


DIVINE   FELLOWSHIP — A   FULL   SUPPORT.  245 

Chriat,  which  is  far  better.  This  is  so  wonderful  a  mercy  that 
every  thing  else  is  little,  is  nothing  in  comparison.  Bless  the 
Lord  that  the  stroke  did  not  fall  upon  you  in  some  remote 
part  of  the  country,  where  you  and  your  orphan  babe  might 
have  sunk  under  neglect  or  want.  Bless  him,  that  he  has  sus- 
tained you  so  kindly  under  the  weight  of  your  burden;  and 
that  he  has  directed  the  affections  of  so  many  around  you  to 
vie  with  each  other  in  offices  of  love.  Bless  him,  that  you  have 
a  precious  circle  of  relatives  who,  though  absent  in  body,  bear 
you  on  their  spirits  before  his  throne  of  grace.  Their  prayers 
are  not  vain ;  and  their  Lord  is  omnipresent.  Bless  him,  that 
he  has  allowed  you  to  enter  a  peculiar  claim  upon  his  protec- 
tion: having  declared  himself  to  be,  emphatically,  the  father  of 
the  fatherless.^  and  the  husband  of  the  ividoiu.  Bless  him,  that 
though  reason  is  appalled,  and  nature  faints,  yet  his  wis- 
dom and  power  and  grace  can  make  all  things,  even  this  terrible 
thing,  work  for  your  good.  We  are  short-sighted,  and  incapable 
of  tracing  the  connexions  of  events.  There  are  proofs  enough 
in  the  word  and  providence  of  God,  that  those  occurrences 
which  we  look  upon  as  most  disastrous,  are  really  chief  mercies. 
You  cannot  tell  what  mischiefs  were  before  you,  and  have  been 
avoided  by  the  present  calamity  :  what  stratagems  of  the 
enemy  have  been  defeated ;  what  sources  of  consolation  are 
about  to  be  opened.  Wait  upon  God  in  the  way  of  his  judg- 
ments. Though  what  he  does  you  know  not  now,  yet  you  may 
know  hereafter;  and  be  constrained  most  thankfully  to  con- 
fess, /  know.,  0  Lord.,  that  thy  judgments  are  right.,  and  that  in 
FAITHFULNESS  thou  hast  afflicted  me. 

"  Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 
And  scan  his  work  in  vain  ; 
God  is  his  own  interpreter, 
And  he  can  make  it  plain." 

One  benefit  you  may  reap  immediately  from  this  visitation. 
You  may  feel  how  much,  how  infinitely  preferable  is  the  favour 
and  fellowship  of  God,  as  your  God  reconciled  in  his  dear  Son, 
to  all  other  comforts.  When  other  friends  are  far  off,  he  is 
near.  When  they  cannot  help,  he  is  a  refuge  and  strength,  a 
VERY  PRESENT  help  in  trouble.     Cast  yourself  and  your  uncon- 


246  A  SICK  HUSBAND. 

scions  little  one  upon"  his  care.  Cleave  to  him  as  your  portion, 
and  you  shall  find  him  to  be  a  sanctuary.  Say,  in  humble  de- 
pendence upon  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  as  the  Lord 
your  righteousness  and  strength,  Though  I  walk  in  trouble,  thou 
loilt  revive  7ne.  Though  he  has  chastened  you  sore,  yet  not 
having  delivered  you  unto  death,  trust  in  him  that  you  shall 
yet  discover  and  declare  his  works,  and  testify  to  the  praise  of 
his  glory,  that  it  is  good  for  you  that  you  have  been  afflicted. 


DR.  M.  TO  MES.  JOSEPH    THOMSON. 

Newburgh,  Oct.  9,  1805. 
My  Dear  Madam  :  When  I  last  parted  with  you  I  could  not 
flatter  myself  with  the  hope  of  seeing  your  excellent  husband 
in  much  better  health,  but  I  did  hope  to  see  him  frequently,  and 
to  converse  with  him  on  the  best  of  all  prospects  which  can 
present  itself  to  the  mind  of  a  Christian,  the  prospect  of  enter" 
ing  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord.  As  the  accounts  which  I  have 
heard  of  the  rapid  progress  of  his  disorder,  lead  me  to  doubt 
whether  this  satisfaction  shall  not  be  denied  me,  I  beg  you  to 
communicate  to  him,  in  the  manner  you  shall  judge  most 
proper,  tfce  lively  interest  which  I  take  in  him,  and  his,  and 
whatever  concerns  them.  Your  own  heart  has  felt  many  a 
pang  under  the  present  dispensation  of  Providence,  and  is  likely 
to  feel  more.  But  you  are  not  alone.  Many  sympathizing 
friends  share  in  j^our  affliction  ;  and  it  passes  not  without  a  sore 
pressure  on  the  church  of  God.  Yet,  my  dear  friend, -what 
shall  we  say?  It  is  the  Lord  ;  let  him  do, unto  us  as  seemeth 
good  in  his  sight.  We  trust  that  he  hath  redeemed  our  souls, 
and  loved  us  with  an  everlasting  love ;  and  this  shuts  out  all 
reason  of  complaint.  Ilear  how  he  has  taught  us  to  argue 
under  the  rod  :  "  lie  that  spared  not  his  owx  Son,  but  delivered 
bim  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give 
us  all  things?"  Your  immediate  duty  is  submission.  "  Father, 
not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done."  Nature  will  yearn  and 
expostulate,  and  who  shall  forbid  her  ?  Jesus  himself 
wept,  and  has  sanctified  by  his  example  the  tears  of  his  people. 
But  yearning  nature  is  not  inconsistent  with  that  grace  which 


COUNSEL   AND   HOPE.  247 

never  stipulates.  Eesign  your  dear  husband  to  that  Saviour 
who  has  a  better  right  to  him  than  you  have.  "  Father,"  said 
he,  "  I  will  that  those  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me 
where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory."  And  if  he  is 
about  to  make  this  disposal  of  your  husband,  it  does  not  be- 
come us  to  say,  Nay.  As  to  himself,  we  have  cause  to  be  as- 
sured, that  he  has  nothing  to  fear.  Therefore,  "  extol  the  Lord 
with  me,  and  let  us  exalt  his  name  together."  Were  I  near 
you,  I  would  endeavour  to  talk  to  my  friend  of  that  precious 
blood  which  cleanses  from  all  sin ;  of  that  hope  in  Christ  which 
maketh  not  ashamed ;  of  those  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises  which  never  failed  a  believing  sinner ;  of  that  cove- 
nant which  is  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure ;  of  that  inherit- 
ance which  is  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away.  Tell  him  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  faithful  and  true  wit- 
ness, has  said,  "  Him  that  cometh  to  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out;"  "I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee."  Tell  him 
that  this  our  brother,  who  knows  perfectly  what  it  is  to  die, 
ever  lives  to  make  intercession  for  us  ;  that  he  went  down  him- 
self to  the  regions  of  death,  in  order  to  mark  out  and  to  show 
the  path  of  life  to  his  followers ;  that  he  has  conquered  in  their 
name ;  has  gone  to  the  third  heavens  bearing  on  his  shoulder 
the  keys  of  hell  and  death  ;  and  is  now  known  above,  and 
known  below,  as  "  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life."  My  heart's 
desire  and  prayer  to  him  is,  that  he  may  enable  my  dear  friend 
to  sing  with  his  latest  breath,  "  0  Death,  where  is  thy  sting? 
0  Grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  The  sting  of  death  is  sin,  and 
the  strength  of  sin  the  law;  but  thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth 
us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ !"  This  honour 
have  all  his  saints,  to  step  from  the  bruised  head  of  the  old 
serpent,  into  the  kingdom  of  light  and  glory  ;  and  to  exchange 
their  pilgrimage  of  faith  and  patience  for  accomplished  promise 
and  realized  hope.  I  commend  you  both  to  the  Lord,  on 
whom  you  have  believed  ;  that  you  may  find  his  grace  suffi- 
cient for  you,  and  his  strength  made  perfect  in  your  weakness. 
"  The  Lord  fulfil  all  your  petitions !" 


248  ,     THE  MISSION  AT  TAHITI. 

TO  REV.  J.  M.  MASON,  SECRETARY  N.  Y.  MISS.  SOCIETY. 

Otaheite,  Nov.  2  1805. 

Eeveeend  and  Dear  Sir:  One  of  your  country's  vessels 
touching  at  this  island  a  few  daj's  ago,  and  we  having  the  pleas- 
ure of  seeing  some  of  the  New  York  Missionary  Magazines  for 
the  year  1802,  thought  that  we  could  not  do  less,  perceiving  the 
harmony  that  subsists  between  your  society  and  ours,  of  send- 
ing you  a  few  friendly  lines  to  inform  you  of  the  state  of  our 
mission  here,  and  that  we  are  pleased  to  find  that  our  common 
Lord  is  carrying  on  his  good  work  with  such  energy  in  Amer- 
ica. Happy  United  States  !  where  peace  and  religion  seem  to 
be  diffusing  their  brightest  beams  while  war  is  shaking  other 
kingdoms  and  irreligion  drawing  down  the  judgments  of  a  sin- 
avenging  God.  May  peace  continue  to  flow  as  a  river  through 
your  land,  and  Christianity  tread  down  infidelity  as  mire  is  trod 
down  in  the  streets. 

Respecting  ourselves,  we  have  almost  everything  to  cause  us 
to  droop  our  heads  and  hang  our  arms  as  men  in  a  desponding 
state.  Though  residing  so  long  on  Taheite,  and  though  we 
have  for  some  years  been  endeavouring  to  instruct  the  inhabi- 
tants in  the  truths  of  God ;  yet,  with  grief  we  must  say  it,  we 
have  not  been  able  to  succeed  hitherto.  Heathens  we  found 
them  and  heathens  they  remain,  strongly  wedded  to  their  delu- 
sions, and  despisers  of  instruction.  But,  notwithstanding  these 
things,  it  must  be  owned  the  knowledge  of  evangelical  truths  is 
considerably  spread  abroad,  and  many  have  their  understand- 
ings tolerably  enlightened,  though  their  hearts  continue  unre- 
newed. Yet,  alas !  what  is  this  better  than  ointment  without 
savour  ? 

While  war  is  with  loud  and  piercing  cries  dispeopling  other 
countries,  sickness,  infant  murder  and  human  sacrifices  are 
silently  but  rapidly  depopulating  this  once  populous  island. 
The  judgments  of  God  are  abroad  here  as  well  as  in  Europe, 
though  manifested  in  a  different  way ;  but,  ah  I  the  eyes,  ears 
and  hearts  of  those  who  for  a  moment  escape  the  desolating 
stroke,  are  too  fast  closed  to  perceive  the  rod  and  Him  that  ex- 
ercises it. 

We  have  not  had  the  happiness  of  hearing  from  our  connex- 


MEANS  OF   COMMUNICATION.  249 

ions  in  England  for  some  years  past,  though  we  have  had  op- 
portunities of  transmitting  sundry  journals  and  letters  to  them. 
This  renders  our  situation  uncomfortable  and  multiplies  our 
temporal  wants,  which  we  cannot  supply  from  the  few  vessels 
that  casually  call  here,  but  in  an  indifferent  manner  and  to  very 
great  disadvantage.  We  should  think  ourselves  highly  hon- 
oured if  we  could  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  you,  and 
be  informed  how  the  church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  ex- 
tending her  borders  through  the  States  and  among  the  Indians. 
If,  sir,  you  shall  judge  it  meet  to  favour  us  with  a  few  lines  and 
sucb.magazines  as  can  give  us  information  on  this  important 
point,  we  think,  if  there  is  any  communication  between  your 
country  and  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales,  that  if  they  were 
sent  thither  to  the  care  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Marsden,  or  to  Mr.  Eow- 
land  Hassal,  there  is  a  probability  of  our  getting  them.  The 
vessel  by  which  we  send  this  is  the  Taber,  of  Providence,  Capt. 
Cornelius  Sowle,  who  has  treated  us  with  much  civility,  and 
has  also  made  the  Society  a  present  of  some  articles  in  the  name 
of  his  owner,  John  Innis  Clark,  Esq.,  of  Providence.  The  Taher 
is  bound  to  China,  and  from  thence,  if  Capt.  S.  does  not  him- 
self proceed  homewards,  it  will  be  forwarded  to  yo\x. 
We  have  the  honour  to  remain 

Your  brethren  in  the  Lord, 

JOHN  JEFFERSON,  for  the  Society. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1806. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

• 

Letter  to  Rev.  A.  Wilson — Letter  to  Eev.  A.  Proudfit — Letter  to  Eev.  J. 
McJimsey — Letter  to  Rev.  S.  Greathead,  London — Letter  to  Mr.  Hardcastle — 
Letter  to  Mr.  Ebenezer  Mason — Letter  from  Rev.  John  Youl,  Missionary, 
Tahiti — Letter  from  Eev.  W.  Carey,  Calcutta. 

Not  only  was  Dr.  Mason  burdened  with  the  affairs  of  his 
own  church,  the  Seminary,  the  Presbytery,  the  Synod,  and 
various  literary  and  benevolent  societies,  but  he  was  often  con- 
sulted by  ministers,  congregations  and  larger  bodies  at  a  dis- 
tance. Reference  is  had  to  one  of  these  cases  in  the  following 
letter  to  the  Pastor  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  at 
Albany ; — 

TO  EEV.  A.  WILSON. 

New  York,  Jan.  16,  1806. 

My  Dear  Brother  :  Your  letter  by  Mr.  McMurray  gave  me 
much  concern.  I  had  pleased  myself  with  the  hope  that  mat- 
ters were  in  a  train  which  could  hardly  fail  to  succeed  in  restor- 
ing the  harmony  of  your  congregation  ;  and  my  hope,  though 
enfeebled  by  your  account  of  their  state,  is  not  yet  destroyed. 
Men  must  have  time  to  retread  their  false  steps,  and  renew  a 
friendly  intercourse  which  has  long  been  impaired.  Truth  will 
enlighten  the  understanding;  ascertained  sin  will  afflict  the 
conscience ;  but  to  subdue  and  reverse  habits,  requires  a  strug- 
gle ;  and  even  with  honest  intentions  can  hardly  be  effected  at 
once.  There  will  be  a  swell  after  the  storm  is  over,  and  it  will 
subside  at  leisure.  So  far  as  I  can  judge  from  your  letter, 
Mr.  McGoffin's  answer  to  the  demand  for  his  resignation,  was 
prudent  and  temperate.     If  any  persons  who  had  embarked  in 


A   CHURCH  DIFFICULTY.  .         251 

the  dispute,  and  had  not  signed  the  covenant  of  reconciliation, 
were  elected  elders,  I  think  it  was  an  error.  According  to  the 
pacific  terms  proposed  by  the  committee,  who  certainly  did  all 
that  men  could  do  toward  preserving  the  congregation  from 
ruin,  ought  to  have  been  a  sine  qua  non,  in  the  nomination  both 
of  church  officers  and  of  trustees.  If  the  objectors  on  account  of 
Mr.  McGoffin's  continuance  in  office,  were  among  the  signers,  it 
is  evident,  as  I  would  without  hesitation  tell  themselves,  were 
I  present,  that  they  dissembled  in  the  transaction,  and  were 
equally  insincere  with  their  brethren  and  their  God.  Howbeit, 
considering  your  situation,  it  is  perhaps  best  for  you  to  be 
reserved  and  delicate  in  your  comments.  If  you  can  at  all 
manage  sessional  business,  I  would  not  press  the  question  about 
the  other  two  elders  any  further.  Let  it  sleep ;  a  more  favour- 
able opportunity  may  occur  for  enlarging  your  Session.  One  of 
the  points  more  immediately  important  is,  to  conduct  your  pro- 
ceedings, record  your  minutes,  file  your  papers,  and  enforce  the 
general  order  of  the  church,  with  the  most  regular  exactness. 
But  by  no  means  proceed  Sessionally  against  any  members  who 
hold  out  in  their  refusal  to  sign  the  reconciliation,  or  in  some 
unequivocal  manner  to  declare  their  acquiescence  in  it.  Pru- 
dence dictates  that  if  any  coercive  measures  be  necessary  on  that 
score,  they  be  directed  by  the  Presbytery,  and  not  by  your 
Session.  The  former  is,  indeed,  the  legal  course;  for  unless 
the  Presbytery  have  brought  their  interference  to  a  definitive 
close,  it  is  a  res  nondum  indicata,  and  you  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  In  any  view,  your  intermeddling  with  it  as  a  Session, 
would  instantly  reorganize  the  broken  parties,  and  rekindle  the 
flame. 

I  am  not  able  to  comprehend  the  reasons  of  that  obstinacy 
with  which  some  insist  on  a  mortgage  on  the  church.  They  act 
as  if  there  were  no  faith  among  men,  and  the  church  to  which 
they  belong  had  entered  into  a  solemn  conspiracy  to  cheat 
them.  I  cannot  forbear  crying,  shame!  The  bond  of  the 
Trustees  gives  them  security  to  the  amount  of  the  church 
property,  unless  they  suppose  that  the  board  intend  to  rob  them 
by  a  fraudulent  disposal  of  it.  And  who  is  obliged  to  give 
them  personal  security  for  a  corporate  debt  ?  After  all,  it  might 
perhaps  be  best  if  the  congregation  would  make  an  effiDrt,  and 


252         .  BROTHERLY  ADVICE. 

pay  off  that  portion  of  their  debt  which  is  due  to  these  captious 
creditors.  Or,  perhaps,  those  who  think  the  corporate  security 
sufficient,  might  be  induced,  for  peace  sake,  to  give  the  dissat- 
isfied claimants  personal  security,  and  accept  as  the  indemnifica- 
tion the  bond  of  the  Trustees.  Anything  is  better  than  these 
scandalous  contentions.  And  they  who  are  willing  to  risk  most 
for  the  restoration  of  harmony,  and  the  credit  of  the  Christian 
name,  will  have  a  better  security  than  bonds  and  mortgages. 
Their  troublers  will  gain  nothing ;  and  I  should  not  be  surprised 
if  some  occurrence  in  Providence  smite  away  from  their  grasp 
that  very  property  for  which  they  have  wrangled,  the  moment 
it  becomes  disconnected  from  the  church.  But  let  our  friends 
be  persuaded  that  it  is  better  to  give  any  security  than  permit 
their  public  property  to  be  held  in  the  names  of  individuals. 
If  any  one  of  them  die,  you  may  be  tormented  by  his  heirs  for 
half  a  century. 

One  thing  more,  my  dear  brother,  and  I  have  done.  A  great 
deal  depends  upon  yourself.  Take  no  side  ;  or  if  any  of  your 
conduct  has  leaned  that  way,  labour  by  an  equal  affection  and 
regard  to  efface  its  impressions.  Let  it  be  seen  that  national 
feeling  enters  not  into  your  measures.  Be  particularly  atten- 
tive to  those  who  most  suspect  you,  and  have  treated  you  the 
most  rudely.  Especially  endeavour  to  repress,  on  this  subject, 
your  natural  jocularity.  You  are  not  aware,  I  apprehend,  of 
its  influence.  It  does  iiurt.  The  state  of  feeling  is  too  irritable 
to  bear  it.  The  evil  is  too  serious  to  be  joked  away.  Briefly, 
if  the  wound  is  to  be  healed  at  last,  yourself,  under  God,  must 
be  the  physician.  I  offer  no  apology  for  my  plainness.  You 
know  how  to  estimate  it,  and  will  not  dispute  that  it  proves  the 
love  with  which  I  am,  my  dear  brother,  yours  affectionately, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  following  likewise  brings  into  view  somewhat  the  varie- 
ty of  his  engagements. 

TO  REV.  DR.  A.  TRGUDFIT. 

Nf.w  Youk.  Jan.  lOtli,  180G. 

My  Dear  Brother  :  Yours  of  the  9th  came  to  hand  on 
Friday,  after  the  mail  had  closed  ;  and  I  have  not  been  master 
of  a  moment  to  answer  it,  till  this  morning.     I  had  written  that 


VISIT   TO   ALBANY,  253 

day  to  Mr,  Wilson,  requesting  him  to  inform  you  and  brother 
J,  Mairs, immediately  that  I  should  be  in  Albany,  God  willing, 
at  the  opening  of  the  Legislature,  and  wished  to  see  the  breth- 
ren of  the  Committee  as  soon  as  possible.  I  have  made  my 
arrangements  accordingly,  and  design  to  set  off  on  Wednesday 
morning  next.  Experience  has  proved  that  the  earlier  in  the 
season,  for  private  bills,  the  better. 

I  should  joyfully  spend  a  communion  Sabbath  in  Salem  ; 
especially  as  I  shall  be  absent  from  one  of  our  "  solemn  feasts  " 
in  New  York.  But  I  am  afraid  to  contract  any  engagement. 
I  do  not  wish  to  be  a  day  longer  from  ray  class  than  I  can  help. 
I  have,  besides,  business  to  transact  with  the  Legislature  for 
Columbia  College,  and  for  the  Missionary  Society ;  and  I  know 
not  whether  my  private  affairs  may  not  oblige  me  to  go  to  Balls- 
ton  ;  this  may  possibly  be  dispensed  with.  But  I  think  that  I 
shall  find  without  it,  full  occupation  in  Albany  for  every  hour 
of  my  stay.  Yielding  to  necessity,  therefore,  I  pray  you  not 
to  reckon  upon  me,  and  I  fear  that  this  letter  will  not  reach  you 
in  time  to  adapt  your  communion  to  the  only  Sabbath  in  which 
it  would  be  practicable  for  me  to  be  at  Salem,  were  I  other- 
wise at  leisure ;  I  mean  the  first  in  February.  Such,  at  least, 
is  my  present  expectation. 

My  family  have  had  their  share  of  sickness  for  some  time 
past,  but,  through  the  tender  mercies  of  our  God,  are  returning 
to  health.  Oar  best  wishes  are  for  your  happiness.  Peace  be 
within  your  walls,  domestic  and  ecclesiastical. 

Yours,  trul}', 

J.  M,  MASON. 

The  liberality  of  his  congregation  towards  distant  objects,  is 
incidentally  shown  by  the  following  note  to  an  intimate  friend: 

TO   THE    REV.   J.  McJIMSEY. 

New  York,  Feb.  24,  ISOG. 

My  dear  Friend  :  You  doubtless  had  good  reason  to  grant 
the  moderation.  There  are  times,  in  which  people  must  be 
permitted,  even  in  their  folly,  to  "  to  manage  their  own  affairs 
in  their  own  way,"  But  if  the  settlement  go  on,  and  JSTew 
Shawangunk  shall  not  appear  to  have  wounded  herself,   and 


254  PRUDENTIAL   CAUTION. 

injured  tlie  interests  of  our  body,  by  her  third  weak  establish- 
ment, I  shall  be  greatly  and  happily  disappointed. 

I  have  just  heard  that  our  friends  at  White  Lake  are  pro- 
posing  to  visit  us  in  a  few  days,  in  order  to  raise  money  toward 
the  building  a  place  of  worship.  If  this  report  is  correct,  I  beg 
you  will  stop  them,  for  their  own  sakes.  They  will,  infallibly, 
be  unsuccessful  at  present ;  and  that  would  dishearten  and  hurt 
them  more  than  the  desertion  of  their  former  allies.  Last  sum- 
mer, Mr.  Laurie  raised  upwards  of  eight  hundred  dollars  in  my 
congregation  chiefly  ;  a  few  weeks  ago  Dr.  Agnew,  from  Marsh 
Creek,  raised  near  three  hundred ;  Mr.  Easton  is  just  leaving 
us  for  Montreal,  with  eight  hundred  dollars  more.  And  in  the 
course  of  a  month  or  two,  I  shall  levy  my  annual  subsidy  for 
the  General  Synod,  to  the  amount  of  one  thousand  dollars. 
There  is  a  point  beyond  which  men  must  not  be  pushed.  If 
fresh  applications  pour  in  upon  us  just  now,  we  shall  grow  im- 
patient, perhaps  rude.  Let  as  have  a  few  months  breathing  ; 
and  probably  White  Lake  will  not  suffer  in  the  end. 

Ever  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  Editor  of  The  Eclectic  Eeview,  in  London,  had  by  letter 
importuned  him  to  contribute  to  its  pages.  The  manner  in 
which  he  excuses  himself,  and  at  the  same  time  defends  him- 
self, against  certain  strictures,  appears  in  the  following 
extracts  from  his  answer  dated  22d  April,  1806 : — 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  hint  concerning  the  occurrence  of  the 
term  "pride,"  in  my  oration  on  General  Hamilton.  It  is  just, 
and  shall  be  remembered.  It  is  very  natural  that  readers  on 
your  side  of  the  water  should  suspect  the  eulogium  to  be  over- 
charged. So  do  some  among  ourselves;  but  not  one  who  knew 
him.  I  knew  him  well,  and  I  assure  you  that  what  I  have  said 
is  sober,  literal  truth.  Such  a  human  being  I  never  saw,  and 
probably  never  shall  see,  in  this  world.  I  have  hoard  that  I 
am  treated  with  great  severity  in  some  of  your  reviews,  for 
pronouncing  an  oration  at  all,  on  a  man  who  died  as  Hamilton 
died.  It  does  not  surprise  me.  Had  a  similar  allair  happened 
in  Britain,  I  should  perhaps  have  formed  a  similar  judgment. 
The  serious  people  here  were,  I  believe,  of  a  different  mind ; 


THE   ECLECTIC   EEVIEW  255 

and  so  would  yours  have  been,  had  they  been  on  the  spot.  Never 
was  there  a  stronger  comment  on  the  maxim,  that  circumstan- 
ces alter  cases.  I  shall  learn  from  it,  I  trust,  with  some  efficacy, 
a  new  lesson  against  hasty  judging,  I  consulted  friends  of  the 
most  intelligent  piety,  and  they  did  not  hesitate  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  my  acquiescing  in  the  wish  of  the  Cincinnati.  I  was 
relieved  also,  in  some  measure,  by  the  eulogy  of  David  over 
Saul,  who  died  by  his  ow7i  hand.     Sed  de  Ms  satis. 

"  When  you  consider  how  I  am  situated,  you  will  not  lay 
much  stress  upon  my  personal  contributions.  The  duties 
attached  to  a  pretty  large  congregation — to  the  education  of  the 
students  in  our  Theological  Seminary — to  the  editorship  of  the 
Christian's  Magazine — to  the  secretaryship  of  the  N.  Y.  Mis- 
sionary Society,  and  incidental  avocations — are  more  than 
enough  for  one  individual. 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

••Rev.  S.  Greatiiead.  J.  M.  MASON." 

In  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a  much  esteemed  Christian 
friend  in  London,  he  thus  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  to 
unbosom  himself  concerning  his  own  personal  religion,  the 
general  aspects  of  Providence,  and  the  state  of  his  Seminary : — 

TO  J.  HAEDCASTLE,  Esq. 

Nkw  York,  April  19,  1806. 

My  Valued  Friend  :  My  chief  design  in  this  letter  is  to 
impart  to  you  a  share  of  the  pleasure  which  I  recently  enjoyed, 
in  becoming  acquainted  with  the  bearer,  Mr.  *  *  *  *  of  Phila- 
delphia. He  is  a  young  gentleman  engaged  in  commerce,  very 
highly  respected  as  a  man,  and  much  beloved  as  a  Christian. 
Your  heart  will  warm  to  him  as  to  one  who  has  "  obtained  like 
precious  faith" — may  I  not  say— (my  soul  trembles,  and  m}^ 
eyes  fill,  while  I  ask  the  question) — "  with  us  ?"  Oh,  how  blessed 
to  know,  amid  the  seductions  of  sense,  and  the  conflicts  with 
the  "  law  in  the  members,"  to  know  "  whom  we  have  believed  !" 
I  desire,  if  I  can  rightly  judge  of  anything  which  passes  in 
my  own  mind,  to  "live  by  faith  ;"  to  "  walk  by  faith  ;"  to  over- 
come by  faith ;  to  "  die  in  faith :"  But  I  find  it  to  be  ano- 
ther affair  altogether  than  I  thought  it  to  be  nineteen  years 
ago,  when,  I  trust,  I  was  enabled  to  commit  myself  as  a  perish- 


266  EEFLECTIONS   ON   PSALM  CXXX, 

ing  sinner  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  the  Lord  my  righteousness.  I 
am  only  learning,  as  yet,  the  alphabet  of  that  supernatural 
science,  which  teaches  us  to  "  rest  in  him"  every  day,  and  all 
the  day,  as  the  "  Lord  our  Strength,"  I  have  been  preach- 
ing for  some  time  past  on  the  130th  Psalm.  If  I  have  no  other 
fellowship  with  the  "  man  after  God's  own  heart,"  I  understand 
him  when  he  speaks  of  the  "  depths ;"  and  can  repeat  after 
him,  with  pungent  emotion,  "  out  of  the  depths  have  I  cried 
unto  thee,  0  Lord."  On  the  afternoon  of  last  Lord's  day,  I 
reached  the  point  of  consolation,  and  intend  to  dwell  on  it 
again  to-morrow  ;  "  there  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou 
mayest  be  feared."  Blessed  be  his  name  for  such  relief.  Ah, 
my  friend,  nothing  but  such  forgiveness  as  has  God's  greatness 
marked  upon  it,  will  suit  such  a  sinner  as  I  am  compelled  to 
see  myself  to  be.  I  look  up  to  his  heavens  ;  I  stretch  out  my 
hand ;  and  remember  that  in  this  very  matter  of  forgiving  ini- 
quity and  transgression  and  sin,  his  ways  are  above  our  ways, 
as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth.  Whenever  I  incline  to 
mean  thoughts  of  his  mercies ;  to  cherish  secret  pride  by  op- 
posing the  magnitude  of  transgression  to  the  freedom  of  their 
exercise,  I  compare  the  length  of  my  arm  with  the  height  of 
the  firmament,  and  am  sometimes  permitted  to  sit  down,  to 
look  at  the  sacrifice,  which,  through  the  eternal  Spirit,  his  dear 
Son  offered  for  sins ;  to  wonder,  and  weep,  and  blush,  and 
praise,  while  I  read,  "there  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou 
mayest  be  feared."  Am  I  intrusive,  or  loquacious?  Bear  with 
me.  The  uppermost  idea  when  I  began  this  letter,  was  that  of 
introducing  a  Christian  to  your  notice,  and  it  has  insensibly 
diverted  my  pen  from  ever}^  thing  which  I  proposed  to  touch 
upon.  I  can  hut  touch  upon  any  thing,  being  pinched  for  time. 
Notwithstanding  your  pleasant  speculations,  my  apprehen- 
sion that  "  an  horror  of  great  darkness"  is  about  to  fall  upon 
the  church,  grows  more  deep  and  dreadful  every  hour.  Some 
reasons  for  this  apprehension  will  be  mingled  with  the  dis- 
cussions in  my  Missionary  Sermon.  All  the  contrary  appear- 
ances coincide  well  with  the  general  principle.  There  is  nothing 
in  them,  my  friend,  but  preparation.  Our  greatest  joy  on  their 
account,"  is  only  a  "little  reviving  in  our  bondage."  "Woe, 
woe,  woe  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth  :"     She  is  only  begin- 


ASPECTS  OF   PEOVIDENCE.  257 

ning  to  uncover  the  blood  which  she  has  for  ages  concealed  ; 
and  every  drop  of  it  must  be  reckoned  for ;  and  the  score 
cleaned,  before  a  better  state  of  things  can  take  place. 

The  XJnited  States,  though  not  within  the  immediate  sweep  of 
the  judgments  which  are  now  inflicting  upon  the  man  of  sin, 
present  to  my  view  prospects  which  fill  me  with  dismay.  The 
extreme  apathy  of  professors  on  the  one  hand;  and  that  miser- 
able cowardice  of  teachers,  on  the  other ;  a  cowardice  which 
shrinks  from  the  danger  of  being  unpopular,  as  from  the  worst 
of  evils  in  this  life,  are  paving  the  way  for  a  desolation  that  will 
burst  ere  long  upon  their  heads  with  the  suddenness  and  fury 
of  a  water-spout.  Our  natural  population  will  demand,  in  the 
course  of  thirty  years  from  this  date,  not  less  than  eight  thousand 
ministers  of  the  word !  And  the  churches  are  fast  asleep  ;  no 
provision  hardly  among  any  of  them  to  meet  the  exigency ; 
they  cannot  be  persuaded  that  their  circumstances  are  so  in- 
auspicious ;  and  that  unless  God  pour  out  his  spirit  to  awaken 
them  from  their  lethargy,  we  shall  shortly  have,  in  the  very 
heart  of  our  country,  five  or  six  millions,  the  offspring  of  our 
own  loins,  in  a  state  of  gross  heathenism  ;  and  nearly  as  much 
the  object  of  missionary  notice,  as  the  Cafifres  and  Hindoos! 
"With  this  terrifying  spectacle  staring  them  in  the  face,  our 
citizens  are  soothing  themselves  with  general  reflections  on  the 
care  of  God  toward  his  people ;  and  then  fold  their  arms  in  sloth ; 
as  if  ministers  were  to  be  rained  upon  them  from  heaven.  Not 
one  of  the  churches  in  this  vast  continent,  excepting  our  own 
small  body,  is  taking  efficient  steps  for  self-preservation,  in  pro- 
viding a  powerful  ministry.  Eecommendations,  and  addresses, 
and  exhortations  are  published.  The  people  read  them  and 
praise  them,  and  say,  What  a  fine  thing  it  would  be  to  have 
something  done ;  and  what  a  pity  it  is  that  there  is  such  a  want 
and  there  the  matter  ends.  Nobod}'-  acts.  You  will,  however, 
derive  some  satisfaction  from  the  efforts  which  we  are  making, 
though  on  a  contracted  scale.  An  act  for  establishing  our 
Seminary  passed  our  Synod  last  May ;  and  the  Seminary  com- 
menced in  November.  My  students,  as  yet,  are  only  eight ; 
but  they  are  precious  youths.  They  all  indicate  the  savour  of 
godliness  ;  six  of  them  have  choice  talents ;  and  they  have  en- 
gaged in  their  studies  with  a  zeal  and  intenseness  that  entitle 
17' 


258  OPENING   OF  THE   SEMINARY. 

US  to  hope  for  much  comfort.  The  number,  next  season,  will 
probably  be  doubled.  The  "act,"  which  I  herewith  transmitj 
will  show  that  so  far  as  human  precautions  can  avail,  we  are 
determined  not  to  license  novices.  My  own  congregation,  though 
by  no  means  wealthy,  contributes  annually  toward  the  support 
of  the  Seminary,  above  $1000.  This  example  is  not  without 
effect ;  but  if  it  be  not  backed  by  the  public  spirit  of  other  con- 
gregations, will  not  be  sufficient.  The  point  to  which  I  have 
long  laboured  to  bring  our  churches,  is  this,  that  students  of 
Theology  are  their  children  and  must  be  supplied  with  the  requi- 
site means  of  future  usefulness — that  it  is  chimerical  to  dream 
of  a  well-appointed  ministry,  unless  they  charge  themselves  with 
the  expense  of  maintaining  and  educating  such  students  as  are 
in  straitened  circumstances — and  that  as  it  is  the  Lord's  ordi- 
nance, that  his  churches  must  support  his  ministers,  it  is  for 
them  to  consider  whether  this  does  not  involve  a  similar  obliga- 
tion toward  those  who  "desire  the  office  of  a  bishop,"  but  are 
unable  to  support  themselves  while  preparing  for  it :  at  any 
rate  it  is  only  entering  upon  that  work  of  love  a  little  sooner. 
Some  of  my  noblest  youth  could  not  move  a  step,  without  the 
aid  of  our  young  fund.  What  gratitude,  my  dear  friend,  do  we 
not  owe  to  our  British  patrons  ?  I  feel  its  whole  force ;  in  the 
name  of  all,  I  thank  you,  and  thank  our  God,  again  and  again. 
I  must  break  away.  It  is  Saturday,  about  midnight.  The 
risen  Saviour  bless  my  friend,  and  his  dear  family.  So  prays 
the  soul  of 

Your  affectionate  brother  in  Christ, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  this  year  he  sent  to  his  uncle,  in  Edin- 
burgh, a  letter  of  fifteen  pages  which  he  had  been  preparing  at 
intervals  for  several  months,  and  which  was  as  interesting  as  it 
was  long.  In  answer  to  inquiries,  it  gives  a  brief  account  of 
the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati ;  speaks  of  the  Seminary — 
particularly  of  its  plan,  and  its  struggles  in  the  Synod,  with 
their  hap])y  termination  ;  gives  his  views  respecting  Christian 
liberality  for  sustaining  and  extending  Christ's  kingdom ;  and 
expresses  his  ideas  concerning  a  successful  merchant's  retiring 
from  active  business.    From  this  he  naturally  passes  to  his  own 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  CINCINNATI.  259 

labours,  especially  as  connected  with  the  Seminary,  which  had 
just  opened.  He  glances  at  the  aspect  of  Europe,  in  connexion 
with  Bonaparte's  career.  He  then  closes  with  an  undisguised 
opinion  of  his  children — such  as  must  be  allowable  in  an  ingen- 
uous spirit  speaking  freely  to  a  near  relative.  The  public, 
perhaps,  have  no  more  to  do  with  it,  than  as  they  may  wish  to 
know  the  man.  With  this  consideration,  we  give  the  letter 
in  part. 

TO  MR.  EBENEZER  MASON,  EDINBURGH. 

New  York,  June  23,  1805. 

My  dear  Uncle  :  I  hope  you  received  my  letter  of  the  4th 
April,  by  Mr.  Silliman.  I  had  not,  then,  leisure  to  notice  par- 
ticularly, several  things  contained  in  yours  of  the  4th  and  5th 
December,  1804.  The  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  about  which 
you  inquire,  was  formed  at  the  close  of  the  Eevolutionary  war, 
by  the  officers  of  the  American  army,  to  perpetuate  their  per- 
sonal friendships  ;  to  support,  in  peace,  the  principles  in  behalf 
of  which  they  had  drawn  their  swords ;  and  to  assist  decayed 
members  and  their  families  with  pecuniary  relief.  It  is  per- 
petuated hj  hereditary  succession^  (a  horrible  thing,  this,  no  doubt, 
in  a  republican  country !)  the  eldest  son  taking  his  father's 
place,  or  even  the  place  of  his  grandfather  during  his  father's 
life.  This  privilege  does  not,  however,  extend  to  honorary 
members,  of  whom  I  have  lately  become  one.  Their  right  is 
not  preserved  in  their  families,  but  dies  with  themselves. 
General  Washington  was  the  President-General  during  his  life  ; 
and  after  him,  the  still  greater  General  Hamilton.  There  were, 
at  first,  thirteen  branches  of  the  Society,  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  American  States  at  its  formation,  and  they  took  the 
name  of  the  State  to  which  they  belonged  respectively,  as  "  The 
New  York  State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati."  They  meet  an- 
nually, by  delegation  in  the  "General  Society  of  the  Cincin- 
nati," and  it  was  here  that  Washington  and  Hamilton  presided. 
The  latter  has  been  succeeded  by  Major-General  Charles  Coles- 
worth  Pinckney,  the  federal  competitor  with  Mr.  Jefferson  for 
the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  All  the  officers  of  the 
Cincinnati  are  chosen  yearly. 

From  a  combination  of  such  men,  important  political  effects 
might  have  been  anticipated,  although  it  never  was  their  inten- 


260  DISCUSSION   IN   THE   SYNOD. 

tion  to  interfere  as  a  body,  in  political  measures.  And  indeed, 
apprehensions  were  entertained  at  first  that  the  Association  was 
less  laudable  and  innocent  than  it  professed  to  be.  Judge 
Burke,  of  South  Carolina,  an  honest,  queer  Hibernian,  who 
used  to  talk  of  "kicking  a  man's  breech  to  7m /ace,"  blew  a 
furious  blast  against  it,  in  a  pamphlet  with  the  caption, 
"Blow  ye  the  trumpet  in  Zion;"  a  sort  of  trumpet,  by 
the  way,  which  rather  ungraciously  befitted  his  honour's 
mouth.  But  the  noise  soon  subsided;  and  the  Institution  of 
the  Cincinnati  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  harmless  things 
in  existence.  Had  their  chiefs  lived;  had  their  ardour  re- 
mained ;  had  their  funds  accumulated,  and  a  separate  interest, 
of  which  their  members  might  be  jealous,  arisen  up,  their  weight 
might  have  been  very  considerable.  But  Washington  and 
Hamilton,  and  Greene,  with  others,  their  most  distinguished 
men,  are  gone :  their  zeal  has  cooled  with  age.  New  objects 
have  engrossed  their  attention ;  political  factions  have  divided 
them;  their  funds  are  scarcely  equal  to  very  limited  charities; 
and  they  have  no  social  principle  of  sufficient  strength  to  resist 
the  imperceptible,  but  steady  and  powerful  influence  of  sur- 
rounding change.  Several  of  the  State  Societies  have  dissolved 
themselves  by  their  own  act,  and  the  probability  is,  that  the 
rest  who  shall  not  follow  the  example,  will  gradually  dwindle 
away. 

The  opinions  of  my  friends  who  have  taken  the  trouble  to 
consider  the  sketch  which  I  forwarded  of  a  plan  of  education 
for  our  Seminary,  are  very  gratifying.  They  came  too  late  for 
the  Synod,  and  as  they  propose  little  alteration,  we  have  not 
lost  by  the  delay.  The  act  for  instituting  the  Seminary  is 
finally  passed,  and  its  operations  commence  on  the  first  of  No- 
vember next.  The  chief  debate  turned  upon  the  time,  which  it 
was  proposed  to  reduce  to  three  years.  For  a  good  while  I  was 
much  alarmed  lest  that  fatal  proposal  should  succeed.  The  de- 
bate was  the  most  close  and  solemn  and  spirited  and  eloquent, 
that  I  ever  saw  in  an  ecclesiastical  court.  There  was  no  difier- 
ence  of  judgment  as  to  the  abstract  propriety  of  obliging  the 
young  men  to  study  Theology  five  years ;  but  many  of  the  Sy- 
nod feared  that  so  great  a  stretch  at  once  might  shock  too  vio- 
lently the  habits  of  our  country,  and  defeat  our  own  intention. 


STAND AEDS  OF   LIBEEALITY.  261 

The  longer  tlie  discussion  lasted',  and  it  occupied  us  a  day  and 
a  half,  the  more  was  gained  by  the  advocates  of  the  highest 
period,  and  it  became  evident  that  the  question  would  be  de- 
cided either  by  a  majority  of  one,  or  by  the  casting  vote  of  the 
moderator.  As  such  a  decision  upon  a  measure  which  requires 
our  whole  strength  and  combined  zeal,  was  to  be  deprecated, 
and  would  have  sent  the  one-half  of  the  Synod  away  discon- 
tented, and  the  other  dispirited,  the  vote  was  postponed.  No 
man  wished  for  anything  but  an  issue  most  conducive  to  gene- 
ral utility ;  and  as  no  one  would  yield  his  convictions,  it  was 
thought  best  not  to  push  a  trial  of  strength,  but  to  compromise. 
With  this  understanding,  I  withdrew  the  motion  for  five  years, 
and  replaced  it  with  one  which  left  the  time  blank.  The  bro- 
ther who  principally  opposed  me,  moved,  in  the  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation, to  fill  it  up  with  four.  The  motion  was  seconded  by 
myself,  and  passed  unanimously.  In  consequence,  we  parted 
in  perfect  cheerfulness,  and  resolved,  each  in  his  own  sphere,  to 
promote  the  common  object.  The  minutes  of  Synod,  which  are 
now  in  press,  will  show  you  general  results.  One  thing  is  wor- 
thy of  notice,  that  while  the  time  of  study  has  been  abridged, 
the  quantity  remains  the  same ;  that  is,  the  Synod  have  crowd- 
ed into  the  last  two  years  of  the  course  all  the  studies  which  I 
had  allotted  for  them ;  and  I  was  not  conscious  of  leaving 
either  the  Professor  or  his  pupils  much  idle  time.  I  know  how 
it  will  work.  Actual  experiment  will  prove  that  they  exact 
impossibilities ;  but  it  did  not  suit  my  ideas  of  advantage  to  the 
church  to  demonstrate  this.  I  let  it  go,  under  a  pretty  strong 
impression  that  the  students  themselves  will  be  the  first  to  com- 
plain that  the  period  is  too  short;  and  thus  all  will  be  gained 
eventually. 

It  has  long  been  one  of  my  doctrines  from  the  jDulpit,  as  well 
as  privately,  that  much  as  Christians  seem  to  do,  and  much  as 
is  really  done,  for  the  interest  of  the  Eedeemer's  kingdom,  the 
amount  is  trifling,  very  trifling,  when  compared  with  their 
means.  I  do  not  vmderstand  the  Christianity  which  expends 
hundreds  and  thousands  upon  objects  of  lucre  and  pleasure,  and 
wonders  at  its  own  liberality  when  it  reluctantly  parts  with  the 
fiftieth  part  of  the  sum  for  the  glory  of  Him  who  washed  us 
from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood  !     If  Christians  had  one-tenth 


262  EETIRING  FROM  ACTIVE   BUSINESS. 

of  that  zeal  for  their  infinitely  precious  Eedeemer  that  they  dis- 
cover in  temporal  pursuits;  if  they  had  the  tenth  part  of  that 
faith  in  His  promise  for  this  world  which  they  repose  in  a  pro- 
missory bank  note,  millions  would  flow  into  the  treasuries  de- 
voted to  the  extension  of  His  kingdom ;  and  instead  of  incite- 
ments there  would  be  need  of  restraint  upon  their  liberality. 
For  ourselves,  I  hope  that  the  worst  is  over ;  and  if  our  minis- 
ters be  true  to  the  best  interests  of  our  church,  the  Seminary 
will  not  sink.  My  own  congregation  sets  an  example  which  is 
great,  not  because  it  equals  their  resources,  but  because  it  sur- 
passes and  leaves  out  of  sight  anything  that  others  do.  Their 
last  contribution  was  $700 ;  and  I  consider  it  as  certain  that 
their  annual  donations  in  future  will  not  be  less  than  $1,100. 
The  others  are  coming  forward,  but  it  is  tough  work.  Can  you 
find  us  no  more  benefactors  with  you?  Every  guinea  is  of  mo- 
ment. Our  attempt  is  the  most  vigorous  that  ever  was  made 
in  the  United  States,  and  if  it  fail  will  hardly  be  revived. 


r-^v^rp^mi   —  - 


January,  1806. 

I  AM  not  at  all  surprised  at  your  new  commercial  engage- 
ments. It  is  a  pretty  thing  for  a  man  who  has  been  in  active 
life  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  to  taUc,  of  retiring  and  enjoying 
himself  while  he  retains  his  vigour.  But  he  forgets  that  he 
cannot  find  permanent  enjoyment  in  the  prosecution  of  any  plan 
which  violates  his  habits.  I  cannot,  however,  help  regret- 
ing  in  some  degree,  your  return  to  the  counting  house,  as 
I  am  afraid  it  will  extinguish  my  Irope  of  seeing  you  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  Pluck  up  a  little  resolution,  and  stej)  over. 
It  is  not  half  so  formidable  in  fact  as  in  imagination.  Only 
suppose  that  you  are  going  to  London  upon  business,  and  the 
matter  is  fixed.  How  happy  I  should  feel  to  see  you  pass  into  my 
parlour !  I  cherish  the  image  of  such  a  scene  as  it  would  open, 
with  an  affection  which  sometimes  throws  me  into  a  reverie, 
from  which  I  awake  only  to  sigh  over  the  illusion.  For  myself, 
I  have  little  expectation  of  visiting  you  a  third  time.  But  there 
is  no  calculating  futurities.  Had  I  any  call  from  clear  duty,  I 
would  not  turn  on  my  heel  to  escape  an  Atlantic  vo3\age.  I  am. 
however,  entangled  in  a  set  of  connexions  from  which  it  is  hard 
to  break  away.     In  addition  to  my  domestic  and  parochial 


GLOOMY   COMPREHENSIONS.  263 

charges,  I  have  now  the  Theological  Seminary  on  my  hands. 
It  opened  in  the  beginning  of  November  last.     All  the  students 
have  not  yet  arrived ;  for  they  are  hardly  aware  of  the  nature 
of  the  system  under  which  they  are  placed.     We  have  been  so 
much  accustomed  to  feeble  management;  and  it  is  so  much  the 
fashion  in  many  parts  of  the  country  for  people  to  do  in  their 
religious  relations,  "  every  one  what  is  right  in  his  own  eyes," 
that  they  can  hardly  believe  that  a  church  is  in  earnest  when 
she   acts   as   well    as  speaks;    and  follows  up    her   arrange- 
ments with  decisive  measures.     I  have  at  present,  eight  stu- 
dents ;  all,  I  trust,  scholars  in  the  school  of  Christ :  all  of  them 
amiable  and  exemplary,  and  diligent ;  and  several  of  them  pos- 
sessing distinguished  talent.     Two  of  them  are  from  Kentucky, 
eight  hundred  miles  distant  from  home;    and  none  of  them 
from  a  less  distance  than  200  miles.     I  spend  with  them,  on  an 
average,  an  hour  and  a  half  every  day,  excepting  the  Lord's 
day.     You  may  easily  conceive  that  I  have  not  much  leisure. 
My  work  is  hard,  but  it  is  most  pleasant.     Two  gloomy  thoughts 
often,  very  often,  overwhelm  me ;  the  one  arises  from  incessant 
discoveries  of  my  own  deficiency,  and  the  difficulty  of  making 
it  up ;  the  other,  from  a  fear  that  after  all,  the  Institution  may 
perish  for  want  of  pecuniary  support.     Oh,  where  are  the  mag- 
nanimous souls,  and  the  bountiful  hands  ?     I  solemnly  protest, 
that  if  I  know  myself,  such  an  event  would  afflict  me  a  thou- 
sand times  more  than  the  loss  of  all  my  earthly  substance, 
were  it  a  thousand  times  greater  than  it  is.     I  should  next  look 
for  the  "besom  of  destruction,"     Very  great  things  in  the  ex- 
tension of  Christ's  Kingdom,  I  do  not  expect.     They  hardly 
accord  with  prophetic  or  providential  data.     If  we  be  enabled 
not  to  "  lose  the  things  which  we  have  wrought ;"  to  contribute 
toward  the  preservation  of  that  "seed"  out  of  which  the  future 
harvest  is  to  spring,  we  shall  be  highly  honoured.     My  general 
opinion,  which,  I  pray,  may  turn  out  to  be  erroneous,  is,  that 
the  world  is  undergoing  a  sort  of  equalizing  process,  with  re- 
spect to  religious  matters.     Missionary  efforts  will  do  little  but 
scatter  the  "seed,"  and  gather,  perhaps,  some  first-fruits;  the 
churches  already  possessing  the  gospel,  will  probably  decrease 
in  numbers,  and  in  power,  and  an  "horror  of  great  darkness" 
settle  down  upon  them;  so  that  little  but  seed  shall  be  found 


264  Bonaparte's  career. 

upon  tlie  earth.  I  look  upon  the  extraordinary  Missionary- 
spirit  as  a  preparation  for  this;  that  the  "seed"  may  be  carried 
into  every  corner  before  the  period  of  sluggishness  and  car- 
nality arrive.  I  fear,  0  how  I  fear,  that  it  is  near,  even  at  the 
doors ! 

AVe  have  just  got  the  news  of  Bonaparte's  reverses,  in  the 
beginning  of  December  last.  Every  body  is  elated  with  the 
hope  tliat  he  is  at  the  close  of  his  career.  But  wherefore  all 
this  joy  ?  Bonaparte  may  be  cut  down,  but  his  fall  will  not 
terminate  the  woes  of  Europe.  Statesmen  imagine  that  if  he 
were  out  of  the  way,  the  old  order  of  things  would  be  re-estab- 
lished ;  or  at  least,  some  better  order  than  the  present.  Vain 
imagination  !  Mischiefs  which  have  been  ripening  for  half  a 
century  are»not  to  be  cured  in  a  day,  nor  to  be  counteracted  by 
covenants.  They  have  penetrated  society  to  the  very  heart, 
and  are  thrilling  along  every  nerve.  But  I  turn  away  from 
the  statesman  to  my  Bible.  I  see  Jehovah  come  forth  out  of 
his  place  to  "plead  with  all  flesh;"  specifically  with  the  "man 
of  sin  ;"  he  will  not  return  till  he  have  finished  the  work  ;  his 
supper,  that  "  supper  of  the  great  God"  is  preparing,  but  not 
yet  prepared.  Judgment  after  judgment,  vengeance  after  ven- 
geance, terror  after  terror  must  be  expected  till  he  have  slain 
that  "  wicked  one  with  the  breath  of  his  lips."  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  rugged  work  to  be  done  yet,  in  executing  his  sen- 
tence.— "  And  blessed  be  his  glorious  name  forever,"  that  he 
does  not  exact  the  performance  of  it  from  his  own  people. 
Shedding  of  blood,  even  the  blood  of  Christ's  incorrigible  foes, 
is  a  task  not  fit  for  hands  which  are  "  lifted  up  without  wrath." 
Wonderful  wisdom  !  Wonderful  condescension  !  He  puts  it 
into  the  hands  of  them  that  hate  him?  Little  did  the  devil 
think  when  he  was  seducing  men  to  infidelity,  that  he  was  pro- 
viding instruments  for  the  destruction  of  his  own  kingdom,  by 
those  very  severities  which  involve  heinous  crimes  in  their 
immediate  authors.  Let  Bonaparte  perish  :  "  God  will  destroy 
them  who  destroy  the  earth ;"  but  other  Bonapartes  Avill  arise, 
and  find  ample  occupation.  The  cup  is  going  round.  Oh 
Britain,  my  heart  trembles  at  the  mention  of  thy  name  !  In 
thy  skirts  is  blood,  the  blood  of  many  of  God's  precious  saints ; 
shed  not  only  under  Popish  darkness  but  under  Protestant  light ; 


HIS   CHILDEEN.  265 

and,  to  this  day,  the  nation  has  not  acknowledged  it  to  be  a  sin  ! 
The  hour  of  vengeance  approaches.  Lord,  "  for  thy  servants' 
sake,  the  tribes  of  thine  inheritance,"  which  are  in  the  midst  of 
her,  let  her  visitation  be  short. 

I  perceive  that  my  letter  is  swelled  into  a  sort  of  historico- 
critical  dissertation,  and  am  startled  when,  on  looking  over  the 
pages,  I  find  it  to  cover  the  incidents  of  more  than  a  twelve- 
month. I  am  almost  ashamed  to  tell  you  at  this  date,  that  I 
have  another  son  who  was  a  year  old  on  the  16th  May  ult.,  and 
is  now  running  about,  and  beginning  to  speak ;  he  is  the  stur- 
diest of  the  tribe.  I  have  called  him,  after  my  old  venerable 
friend,  "Erskine."  John  and  Abraham  are  at  a  new  school, 
which  three  other  ministers  and  myself  have  erected  and  con- 
trol;  it  is  called  "The  New  York  Grammar  School."  Our 
design  is  to  improve  the  state  of  education  in  this  city ;  and  our 
plan,  thus  far,  succeeds  to  admiration.  The  girls  are  at  a  very 
good  seminary,  lately  set  up  by  Miss  Thomas,  an  English  lady, 
who  taught  with  reputation  at  Bath.  They  are  doing  well- 
Euphemia,  who  was  twelve  in  April,  is  a  superior  child  ;  her 
sister,  Catharine,  is  full  of  humour,  and  makes  respectable  pro- 
gress. E.  is  all  mind.  James  Hall  will  be  three  next  month ; 
he  opens  fast;  very  like  his  sister  Euphemia.  Mr.  Silliman 
returned  in  good  health,  after  a  passage  of  twenty-five  days 
from  Greenock.  (You  see  a  trip  to  New  York  is  just  nothing, 
or  next  to  it.)  He  speaks  in  the  most  affectionate  manner  of 
your  friendship  to  him.  Give  my  love  to  Aunt  and  the  girls. 
Oh,  how  I  long  for  another  sight  of  you  all !  Shall  I  ever  have 
that  happiness  ?  But  it  will  be  better,  infinitely  better,  to  meet 
in  that  world  of  light  and  purity,  where  there  will  be  nothing 
to  separate  oi*  annoy.  This  is  the  sum  of  duty  and  of  bliss,  to 
belong  to  Christ,  and  to  be  conformed  to  his  image.  Oh,  that 
we  may  experience  much  of  the  transforming  power  of  his 
grace  !     To  that  grace  I  commend  you.         Ever  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

P.S. — I  made  a  mistake  in  Erskine's  age.  He  was  born  on 
the  16th  April,  1805.  A  slip  of  memory  is  allowable  when 
little  folks  mxLster  hy  sevens  ;  Euphemia,  John,  Catharine,  Abra- 
ham, Ebenezer,  James,  Erskine  ! 

J.  M.  M. 


266  THE  MISSION  AT  TAHITI. 

A  man's  character  may  in  a  good  degree  be  learned  from  the 
nature  of  his  friendships,  and  the  tenor  of  his  correspondence. 
It  is  also  interesting  to  see  how  Christians  and  missionaries 
thought  and  felt  half  a  century  ago.  To  these  considerations 
may  be  added,  that  the  letter  now  to  be  presented,  like  a  former 
one  from  the  same  mission,  is  necessary  to  explain  some  state- 
ments to  be  made  in  a  future  page,  and  that  the  missionary 
field  of  Tahiti  has  assumed  a  more  interesting  aspect  by  events 
which  have  since  transpired : — 

TO  THE  EEV.  DE.  MASON. 

Tahiti,  Aug.  8tb,  1806. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  Having  taken  the  liberty  about  nine 
months  ago  of  addressing  a  few  lines  to  you  per  favour  of  Cap- 
tain Sowle  of  the  Taber^  of  Providence  which  was  then  on 
her  way  to  Canton,  that  vessel  unexpectedly  calling  here  on  her 
way  homewards,  we  embrace  the  opportunity  of  acquainting 
you  with  a  few  particulars  concerning  the  present  state  of  this 
Mission. 

It  is  a  comfortable  thought  that  our  gracious  Lord  has  not 
left  this  guilty  world,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  daring  infidelity 
that  has  in  so  awful  a  manner  overspread  the  greatest  part  of 
the  so-called  Christian  world,  "  the  Lord  reviveth  his  work  in 
the  midst  of  the  years,"  and  that  there  are  in  sundry  parts  of 
the  world,  such  extraordinary  exertions  for  the  enlargement  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 

We  rejoice  to  hear  that  many  parts  of  your  happy  land  have 
experienced  the  plentiful  outpourings  of  the  good  Spirit  of  our 
God,  in  all  his  gracious  and  benign  influences ;  surely  he  hath 
sent  "  a  plentiful  rain,  and  thereby  did  confirm  his  inheritancej 
when  it  was  weary." 

Many  and  various  are  the  difficulties  we  have  to  encounter. 
Our  discouragements  from  within,  and  from  without,  are  not  a 
few.  One  circumstance  that  tends  greatly  to  cause  our  knees 
to  wax  feeble,  and  our  hands  to  hang  down,  is,  that  we  have 
had  many  opportunities  to  transmit  to  them  our  journals  and 
letters,  but  what  they  may  have  sent  to  us,  we  know  not,  as 
our  last  letters  from  London  are  dated  so  far  back  as  1800. 


MISSION  AT   CALCUTTA.  267 

Having  said  tbis,  it  will  appear  no  wonder,  when  we  say  our 
anxiety  at  not  hearing  from  them  is  very  great. 

Pomare,  the  King  of  this  Island,  treats  us  very  kindly.  lie 
has  made  some  advances  towards  civilization  ;  he  has  learned 
to  read  and  write  his  own  language,  and  makes  some  small 
progress  in  the  English ;  but  he  has  not  at  present,  the  least 
inclination  to  embrace  Christianity. 

We  shall  only  add  that  we  shall  esteem  it  a  great  favour  to 
hear  from  you,  if  ever  an  opportunity  offers.  If  you  could 
send  us  any  numbers  of  the  New  York  Missionary  Magazine, 
they  would  also  be  thankfully  received.  As  American  vessels 
frequently  call  at  Port  Jackson,  a  letter  sent  by  any  one  of 
them,  directed  for  us,  to  the  care  of  Eev.  Mr.  Marsden,  New 
South  Wales,  might  possibly  reach  us. 

We  have  the  honour  to  remain,  etc., 

JOHN  YOUL,  for  the  Society. 

Since  the  following  letter  was  written,  the  name  of  its  author 
has  become  illustrious  in  the  Missionary  world.  This,  togeth- 
er with  the  spirit  which  it  breathes,  gives  new  force  to  its 
appeals : — 

TO  THE  EEV.  DR.  MASON. 

Calcutta,  Dec.  3,  1806. 

Dear  Brother  :  The  unexpected  departure  of  our  friend, 
Mr.  Smith,  makes  it  somewhat  difficult  for  me  to  write  to  you 
so  fully  as  I  could  wish.  The  loss,  however,  will  not  be  great 
as  I  have  already  written  an  account  of  almost  every  particular 
concerning  the  mission  in  this  country,  to  several  friends  in 
America.  • 

Our  state  at  present  exhibits  a  singular  mixture  of  opening 
prospects  and  clouded  sky ;  of  progress  in  the  work  of  God, 
and  circumstances  of  a  retrograde  tendency ;  but  upon  the 
whole,  I  think  we  have  much  reason  for  encouragement,  and 
much  encouragement  to  hope  in  God. 

Some  circumstances  of  an  untoward  nature  have  occurred 
lately,  which  Mr.  Smith  can  better  explain  than  I  ought  to  do. 
These  have  operated  to  our  discouragement,  but  are,  blessed  be 
God !  much  lighter  than  we  at  first  apprehended  they  would  be, 
and,  I  trust,  will  in  due  time,  be  entirely  removed.     Success 


268  SUCCESS — TRANSLATIONS. 

has  attended  the  mission,  and  it  is  impossible  for'any  one  to 
deny  the  benign  influence  which  the  Gospel  has  had  on  many 
who,  but  a  little  time  ago,  were  bowing  down  to  idols.  The 
number  who  have  been  baptized  and  received  into  the  church 
has  been  upwards  of  one  hundred.  Some  of  these  have  apos- 
tatized, and  others  are  persons  of  doubtful  character,  but  there 
remains  a  goodly  number  who  are  an  ornament  to  the  Christian 
name,  and  some  have  departed  this  life,  giving  glory  to  the 
Saviour  with  their  expiring  breath. 

Another  church  has  been  constituted  in  the  northern  part  of 
Bengal,  which  has  lately  been  blessed  with  a  small  addition, 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  more  than  one  other  will  ere  long 
be  constituted  in  other  parts. 

About  a  dozen  of  our  brethren  are  employed  as  itinerants, 
half  of  whom  are  possessed  of  respectable  gifts  for  preaching 
the  Gospel,  and  the  others  attend  them  as  companions  in  their 
excursions,  besides  which  places  are  opened  for  the  more  regu- 
lar preaching  of  the  Gospel  at  three  places  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Serampore,  viz.,  at  Calcutta,  Chundunnugur  and  Chrin- 
ura.  At  Calcutta,  God  has  stirred  up  an  American  or  two,  to 
care  for  the  perishing  Heathen,  and  one  of  them  is  fitting  up  a 
place  for  preaching  in  the  Bengalee  language.  0,  that  the 
Lord  may  smile  on  these  attempts ! 

The  translation  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  into  all  the  Orienta 
languages  to  which  we  can  have  access,  is  with  us  a  matter  of 
great  importance.  It  is  probable  that  §o  many  advantages  will 
scarcely  ever  be  found  again,  combined  in  one  situation,  as  now 
unite  to  assist  us  in  this  work ;  and  the  liberal  supplies  of  money 
afforded  from  England  and  America,  and  raised  in  India,  will 
help  us  forward  in  it  to  a  very  great  extent,  though  the  expenses 
are  necessarily  very  great.  We  have  begun  the  translation 
into  ten  languages,  in  all,  and  have  commenced  the  printing  of 
four  besides  the  Bengalee,  viz.,  the  Hindoostanee,  Mahratta, 
Oorissa,  and  the  Sangshrit.  The  copiousness  and  flexibility  of 
the  Sangshrit  language  is  so  great  that  it  will  admit  of  a  nearly 
literal  rendering  from  the  Greek  and  Hebrew.  Beside  the  five 
which  we  have  begun  to  print,  translations  are  begun  in  Per- 
sian,  Gujerattee,   Telinga,    Chinese,  and  the  language  of  the 


REQUESTS  OF  THE  MISSIONARIES.  269 

Seeks.      I  hope  to  see  them  all  finished,  if  God  grant  health 
and  means  for  ten  or  twelve  years  to  come. 

You  will  greatly  oblige  me  by  sending  me  letters  as  often  as 
you  can,  stuffed  as  full  of  news  respecting  the  Gospel  as  they 
can  hold.  We  are  in  a  world  of  barrenness  as  it  respects  Gos- 
pel light,  and  you  are  in  a  land  resembling  Eden  in  fertility. 
You  must  therefore  excuse  the  barrenness  of  my  intelligence, 
and  out  of  pity  communicate  out  of  your  abundance. 

I  am  affectionately  yours, 

W.  CAEEY. 


CHAPTER    XXI.    . 

1S06. 

THE     SEMINARY. 

Meeting  of  the  Synod — Danger  from  a  new  quarter — Letter  to  a  Student — 
Another — Letter  to  Ilev.  A.  Rankin,  Kentucky — Letter  to  Eev.  John  Steele — 
Letter  to  Mr.  Thornton,  London, 

In  the  beginning  of  November,  1805,  the  Seminary  was  opened 
with  eight  students,  viz.,  John  Lind,  James  M.  Matthews, 
William  McMurray,  George  Stewart,  George  Buchanan,  Samuel 
Crothers,  James  McChord,  and  John  Clarke. 

At  the  Meeting  of  the  General  Synod,  May,  1806,  the  Board 
of  Superintendents  reported  that  at  an  examination  held  by 
them,  "  the  students  had  acquitted  themselves  to  their  satisfac- 
tion." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Burgher  Synod  of  Scotland,  the  American 
Reformed  Synod  further  remark :  "  The  important  object  to 
which  our  hopes  and  exertions  have  been  for  several  years  di- 
rected, our  Theological  Seminary,  is.  through  the  tender  mercy  of 
our  God,  at  length  accomplished.  It  commenced  last  November, 
at  the  City  of  New  York,  with  eight  students.  The  prospect  of 
increase  and  utility  is  beyond  what  our  fondness  had  ventured  to 
anticipate.  Obstacle  after  obstacle  has  been  removed;  our 
hearts  are  encouraged ;  our  hands  are  made  strong ;  and  we  pro- 
ceed in  the  humble  confidence,  that  this  plant,  which  the  Lord's 
own  right  hand  hath  planted,  will  be  watered  with  the  dews  of 
His  blessing,  till  it  grow  up  into  a  tree  of  life,  and  spread  heal- 
ing influences  over  our  vast  continent." 

At  this  meeting  of  the  Synod,  as  usual,  a  very  large  amount 
of  duties  were  thrown  upon  Dr.  Mason ;  and  with  unflinching 
energy,  he  discharged  them.  Among  others  was,  a  perplex- 
ing case  of  discipline;  a  draft  of  an  application  to  the  Legisla- 
ture of  New  York,  for  an  act  of  incorporation ;  and  the  selection 


NEW  DIFFICULTIES — McCHORD.  271 

of  extracts  from  their  minutes  for  publication:  and  the  "caus- 
ing of  them  to  be  printed  and  distributed  among  the  Presby- 
teries." His  correspondence  furnishes  ample  proof  of  the  pains 
which  he  took,  in  the  business  part  of  carrying  out  all  the 
measures  with  which  he  was  charged.  He  was  as  ready  to 
apply  himself  to  the  drudgery  of  details,  as  to  the  formation  of 
plans. 

The  Seminary  had  no  sooner  commenced  in  New  York,  than 
leading  spirits  of  the  West  began  to  think  of  establishing  one 
or  more  nearer  home.  A  prominent  member  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Kentucky  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  Lexicon  Academy  as  a 
defence  of  orthodoxy,  against  what  he  called  the  infidelity  of 
the  Transylvania  University.  The  trustees,  under  his  influence, 
determined  to  connect  with  it  a  theological  department,  and 
even  went  so  far  as  to  appoint  a  Professor,  and  to  ask  support 
from  the  General  Synod.  This  of  course  would  have  left  only 
a  divided  support  for  the  Institution  already  established  b}^  the 
Sj^nod.  This  brief  statement  is  sufficient  to  explain  many 
allusions  in  Dr.  Mason's  subsequent  correspondence,  especially 
with  his  Western  brethren. 

It  also  explains  some  things  in  a  communication  to  one  of 
his  theological  students.  This  student  was  James  McChord,  de- 
servedly ranking  high  in  the  Seminary.  He  was  naturally  of 
an  earnest  temperament,  and  withall  possessed  of  deep  piety. 
Though  perhaps  not  well  balanced,  his  mind  was  powerful.  If 
properly  directed,  he  was  capable  of  high  attainments,  and  of 
great  achievements.  Ardent,  bold  and  vigorous,  he  had  an 
unusual  facility  in  acquiring  knowledge,  and  an  equal  readiness 
in  using  it.  At  the  same  time,  as  often  happens  with  such  per- 
sons, he  was  morbidly  sensitive.  His  feelings  often  controlled 
his  judgment,  and  at  times  subjected  him  to  such  depressions 
as  abated  both  his  happiness  and  usefulness.  He  was  of  too 
lofty  a  spirit  patiently  to  receive  pecuniary  aid  in  prosecuting 
his  studies.  The  expenses  of  New  York  were  beyond  his  own 
private  means.  Eemittances  from  Kentucky  were  slow  and 
scanty.  Some  of  the  methods  by  which  he  had  hoped  to  help 
himself  disappointed  him.  Under  these  circumstances,  as  he 
was  spending  his  vacation  with  a  distant  relative  in  the  interior 
of  Pennsylvania,  be  began  to  think  of  returning  home  without 


272  DEEPLY  AFFECTED  BY  THE   MOVEMENT. 

completing  his  course  at  the  Seminan\  He  even  hoped  to  pre- 
pare for  the  ministry  with  such  aids  as  might  be  procured  in 
the  "West.  Such  a  train  of  thoughts  almost  brought  him  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  might  be  expedient  to  establish  a  second 
seminary  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  Would  it  not  save  much 
expense  and  much  inconvenience?  "Would  not  Western  stu- 
dents be  nearer  their  friends  and  nearer  their  fields  of  future 
labour  ? 

A  long  letter,  greatly  expanding  such  thoughts,  and  pressing 
them  with  his  characteristic  warmth,  Mr.  McChord  addressed 
to  his  Professor,  who  promptly  replied  as  follows : — 

TO   MR.  JAMES   McCHORD. 

Hackensack,  N.  J.,  19th  Aug.,  ISOC. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  In  consequence  of  removing  with  my  family 
from  the  city  for  the  warm  season,  and  being  absent  some  time 
in  supplying  a  vacancy,  I  did  not  receive  your  letter  till  yester- 
day. I  read  it  with  a  surprise  not  usual  to  me ;  surprise  min- 
gled with  emotions  which  it  is  neither  necessary  nor  easy  to 
express ;  surprise  and  emotions  which  terminated  in  an  anguish 
not  soon  to  be  removed  by  anything  but  your  abandoning  your 
present  design  of  returning  to  Kentucky.  I  acknowledge  that 
your  objections  are  not  trifling,  and  that  your  situation  is  calcu- 
lated to  make  melancholy  impressions  upon  even  a  cool  and 
intrepid  mind  ;  and  yet  I  cannot  admit  the  justness  of  your  rea- 
sonings, nor  consider  the  state  of  your  feelings  as  the  result  of 
anything  else  than  a  strong,  a  subtle,  and  a  most  dangerous 
temptation.  All  your  difficulties,  which  you  have  displayed 
with  force  as  well  as  frankness,  fall  under  one  of  two  heads : 
either  the  general  principle  of  attending  upon  the  Seminary  at 
such  a  distance,  or  your  own  private  embarrassments. 

With  respect  to  the  first,  you  cannot  imagine  that  most  of 
those  things  on  which  you  dwell,  did  not  offer  themselves  to  re- 
flecting men  when  pondering  the  subject  long  before  it  could 
have  been  an  object  of  your  own  serious  attention.  They  were 
perceived,  they  were  balanced  and  examined  again  and  again ; 
their  importance  was  not  disputed ;  but  on  weighing  them 
against  the  unspeakably  greater  things  which  affect  the  very 
vitals  of  Christian  prosperity,  and  may  reach  down  to  succes- 


DANGER   TO   THE   CHURCir.  273 

sive  ages,  and  to  millions  of  individaals,  tho  sacrifice  which  they 
involve  was  seen  to  be  indispensable,  and  must  be  submitted  to 
by  the  cliurches  till  such  time  as  the  system  of  ministerial  prep- 
aration can  be  properly  ramified.  How  soon  such  a  disposition 
can  be  accomplished,  is  to  be  determined  only  by  events.  The 
period  will  depend  materially  upon  the  zeal  and  concert  with 
which  the  existing  Institution  shall  be  cherished  ;  the  measure 
itself  upon  its  success.  Your  reasonings  on  the  general  princi- 
ple are  precisely  such  as  apply  to  every  place  twenty  miles 
from  the  city,  excepting  the  long  absence  from  home ;  and  if 
acted  upon  would  consign  to  perdition  in  a  single  day  all  that 
has  been  gained  by  the  exertions  of  ten  years,  and  with  it  the 
faint  hope  which  the  God  of  salvation  has  permitted  to  gladden 
and  bless  our  church. 

Even  if  other  disastrous  issues  should  not  happen,  we  would 
inevitably  revert  to  the  old,  miserable  method  of  introducing 
our  youth  into  the  ministry.  The  interests  of  ignorance  and 
conceit  would  soon  grow  too  powerful  for  control,  and  we  should 
have  our  full  share  of  the  guilt  contracted  b}^  concurring  with 
the  tendency  of  the  times  toward  the  destruction  of  the  church 
of  God  ;  and  that  under  the  peculiar  aggravation  of  having 
wantonly  thrown  away  the  means  which  His  providence  had 
put  into  our  hands,  of  circumscribing  its  ravages,  although  we 
might  not  altogether  resist  its  march. 

The  single  point  in  which  these  remarks  meet  is  this :  that 
students  in  remote  parts  of  the  country  must  put  up  with  the 
inconveniences  of  the  present  arrangement  till  they  shall  be  in 
a  capacity  of  meliorating  our  condition.  That  may  be  much 
sooner  than  they  now  deem  possible  ;  but  if  they  yield  to  de- 
spondency, or  turn  impatient  under  self-denials,  the  blessing  will 
never  be  obtained;  they  will  defeat  their  own  ends;  will  mar 
their  own  usefulness ;  and  will  have  to  sit  down  under  the  re- 
proach, the  shame  and  the  crime  of  having  conspired  with  the 
enemy  to  desolate  the  heritage  of  God.  Should  you  pursue  the 
plan  to  which  your  letter  discovers  a  leaning,  I  shall  look  upon 
it  as  a  signal  for  the  desertion  of  all  the  youth  from  the  Synod 
of  Scioto.  Not  one  more  shall  I  ever  expect  from  that  quarter. 
The  reasons  which  justify  you  in  setting  the  example,  will  jus- 
tify them  in  following  it.  Considering,  too,  how  far  you  have 
18 


274  VIOLATIONS   OF   HIGH   OBLIGATIONS. 

gone,  and  that  you  must  justify  yourself,  it  will  be  hardly  pos- 
sible to  avoid  injuring  that  Institution  which  you  abandon,  and 
that  church  which  you  disobey.  Such  a  desertion,  which  would 
naturally  arise  out  of  your  precedent,  would  probably  pro- 
duce, first  dissension  in  the  body,  and  then  a  rent.  Not  only 
so;  but  if  the  students  in  one  Synod  should  draw  back,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  retain  the  others ;  and  thus  again  our  labour 
will  be  lost.  Should  it  be  otherwise,  it  will  be  because  God 
has  mercies  for  us  in  store,  to  confer  which  he  will  counteract 
the  ordinary  laws  of  human  conduct. 

Besides,  my  friend,  you  stand  in  relations  of  which  you  do 
not  seem  to  realize  the  solemnity.  You  are  not  your  own  ;  nor 
yet  the  Presbytery's.  A  greater  than  either  has  the  right  to  dis- 
pose of  you;  and  that  is  the  church  aggregate  with  which  you 
are  connected ;  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  the  Lord  Jesus,  the 
King  of  that  church.  Some  hints  in  your  letter  concerning  the 
probable  course  which  the  Presbytery  might  take,  and  of  your 
sheltering  yourself  under  their  authority,  convince  me  that  it 
is  your  duty  not  to  stir  in  your  conten:\plated  journey.  Because 
it  is  evident  to  me,  as  the  noon  day,  that  your  notions  of  the 
visible  unit}^  of  the  church  of  Christy  and  of  the  ties  which  bind 
her  members,  are  very  inaccurate,  and  must  be  rectified  ;  unless 
you  wish,  as  I  know  you  cannot,  to  proceed  on  principles  which 
will  not  further  her  peace,  but  insure  her  harm.  In  fact  the 
attendance  of  her  students  for  some  time,  in  the  same  Seminary, 
appears  to  be  the  only  method  of  preserving  her  unity. 

A  circumstance  on  which  you  lay  some  stress,  is  the  separa- 
tion for  four  years  from  parents  and  friends.  What  has  your 
Master  said  on  this  subject  ?  Was  this  your  stipulation  to  Him, 
that  you  were  never  to  leave  your  kindred  in  Ilis  service  for 
three  or  four  years  ?  Ought  such  an  objection  to  be  heard  out  of 
a  Christian  mouth,  when  for  the  sake  oi  money ^  youth  are  every 
day  leaving  their  relatives,  with  little  prospect  of  seeing  them 
again,  these  relatives  consenting?  And  when  many  of  our 
brethren  have  forsaken  their  friends  forever,  that  they  may 
serve  God  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son  among  us?  A  young  man 
who  will  not  go  four  years  from  home  in  order  to  become  quali- 
fied for  the  ministr}',  furnishes  no  flattering  presage  of  firmness 
under  the  cross.     But  the  ground  is  tender,  and  I  quit  it. 


SUGGESTIONS   OF  THE   TEMPTER.  275 

A  word  or  two  shall  dispatch  the  question  of  your  personal 
embarrassments.  They  are  such  as  can  be  removed,  and  as  I 
will  undertake  to  remove.  The  enclosed  draught  for  $50, 
which  does  not  come  out  of  the  public  fund,  but  is  offered  to 
you  "in  the  name  of  a  disciple,"  will  I  hope  partly  relieve 
them. 

I  shall  not  conceal  from  you  that  I  am  somewhat  hurt 
by  your  closeness  on  such  matters.  If  I  cannot  prevail 
with  my  students  to  treat  me  as  a  friend  to  whom  they  may  freely 
disclose  their  situation,  I  shall  be  unhappy  indeed.  Nothing 
would  more  quickly  induce  me  to  resign  ray  trust. 

Upon  the  whole,  my  dear  McChord,  for  I  certainly  love  as  well 
as  respect  you,  I  esteem  your  purpose  of  going  back  to  Ken- 
tucky to  be  a  temptation  of  the  devil.  He  has  played  off  his 
artifices  against  our  Seminary.  His  first  attempt  was  upon  the 
people,  whom  he  endeavoured  to  stir  up;  and  that  failed.  His 
next  was  upon  the  ministers  ;  and  that  failed.  He  is  now,  as  a 
last  resort,  tampering  with  the  students ;  the  Lord,  his  con- 
queror, grant  that  may  fail  too.  For  myself,  being  solemnly 
persuaded  that  through  the  medium  of  this  Seminary  we  are 
holding  in  our  hand  the  religious  fate  of  generations  unborn, 
and  the  decision  of  some  questions  essential  to  the  interest  of 
the  Gospel  among  other  denominations,  I  shall,  through  my 
God  assisting  me,  with  all  my  might,  to  my  last  breath,  with- 
stand whatever  tends  directly  or  indirectly  to  its  subversion.  I 
have  taken  my  deliberate  resolution  to  risk,  in  its  defence,  the 
loss  of  popularity,  friends,  purse,  and  every  other  consequence. 
Under  this  impression,  believing  that  the  failure  of  our  ex- 
periment would  seal  the  doom  of  our  churches,  and  believing 
too  that  your  quitting  the  Seminary  at  this  juncture,  and  under 
existing  circumstances,  might  be  influential  in  causing  its  failure,  I 
do,  before  God,  with  fear  and  trembling,  enter  my  protest  against 
your  return  to  Kentucky,  and  throw  upon  your  conscience  the  re- 
sponsibility for  all  results !  Do  not  think  me  harsh  ;  I  am  only 
faithful.  My  bowels  yearn  and  my  eyes  fill,  while  I  write  to 
you ;  and  from  my  inmost  soul,  commending  you  to  God  and 
to  the  word  of  his  grace, 

I  am,  in  real  affection,  yours,  etc. 

J.  M.  MASON. 


276  THE   HANDS  OF   PROVIDENCE  VARIOUS. 

We  need  only  add  that  McC.  completed  bis  entire  course  in 
the  Seminary,  and  no  one  ever  left  it  with  more  unbounded  ad- 
miration, or  filial  alFection  for  his  faithful  teacher. 

Another  student  was  in  some  respects  of  a  different  temper, 
but  no  less  sensitive.  He  was  decidedly  amiable,  excellent, 
and  promising,  but  disposed  to  shrink  from  receiving  aid  out 
of  the  public  funds,  and  therefore  desirous  of  abridging  his  pre- 
paratory course  of  stud3^  Communicating  his  views  in  a  letter, 
he  was  answered  by  another,  of  which  we  give  a  brief  ex- 
tract : — 

"  I  am  deceived  in  you  if  you  do  not  discover  hereafter  that 
the  Superintendents  have  judged  well  for  your  comfort  and 
prosperity ;  and  that  your  dissatisfaction  has  arisen  more  from 
impatience  than  wisdom.  I  allude  particularly  to  your  reluc- 
tance to  bow  to  your  external  situation  with  regard  to  support. 
It  grieves  me,  my  dear  young  friend,  to  observe  in  you  an 
unwillingness  to  depend  upon  the  providence  of  God.  For 
it  is  on  him  that  you  do  depend.  Can  you  honestly  pray  "Give 
me  this  day  my  daily  bread,"  and  swallow  it  with  reluctance? 
or  be  almost  ready  to  cast  it  from  you,  because  he  gives  it  in  a 
channel  different  from  that  which  you  would  have  chosen  ? 
Have  you  not  felt  it  an  affliction  that  your  pecuniary  resources 
are  not  sucb  as  to  enable  you  to  carry  on  your  studies  without 
distraction  and  to  such  an  extent  as  might  justify  a  hope  of 
performing  eminent  service  to  his  church?  And  now,  when  the 
impediment  is  removed,  in  a  way  which  you  could  not  have 
foreseen,  do  you  turn  round  and  convert  the  very  boon  which 
his  hand  presents  to  you  into  a  ground  of  complaint  ?  Had 
he  commissioned  the  ravens  to  feed  you,  as  they  did  the  vene- 
rable prophet,  would  this  have  mortified  you?  And  is  the 
favour  less  precious,  or  less  sweet,  because  instead  of  dispens- 
ing it  by  the  ministry  of  an  unclean  bird,  he  confers  it  b\'  the 
hand  of  that  Church  which  his  Son  has  redeemed,  and  his 
Spirit  inhabits?  IS'ay,  my  dear  youth,  there  must  be  no  more 
of  this  1  It  is  a  bad  preparative  for  preaching  to  others  sub- 
mission to  the  righteousness  of  God,  and  the  sacrifice  of  their 
pride  at  the  feet  of  his  sovereignty.  You  are  only  called  to 
the  exercise  of  a  little  Christian  principle;  and  must  not  flinch 
at  the  first  twinge  given  to   "flesh  and  blood."     If,  in  the  very 


INCIPIENT   TROUBLE.  277 

outset,  you  have  to  cherish  a  fellow-feeling  with  many  of  the 
household  of  faith,  you  are  but  treading  in  the  steps  of  your 
Divine  Master,  and  learning  to  be  their  comforter.". 

He  also  finished  his  entire  course  at  the  Seminary,  and  be- 
came a  divine  of  distinction  and  usefulness. 

As  already  intimated,  serious  thoughts  were  entertained  of  es- 
tablishing a  Theological  department  in  the  Lexington  Academy, 
and  some  incipient  steps  towards  it  were  actually  taken.  The 
Eev.  Adam  Eankin  informed  Dr.  Mason,  in  a  letter  of  1805, 
that  the  Trustees  of  Lexington  Academy  had  promised  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Dobbin  four  hundred  dollars  per  annum  to  teach  divinity. 
In  the  same  letter  he  says,  that  no  parent  in  his  State  would 
send  his  son  for  a  four  years'  course  to  New  York,  even  if  they 
should  be  kept  free  of  charge  ; — alleging  that  they  "  have  too 
much  spirit  to  be  so  dependent,  and  too  little  cash  to  defray 
the  expense."  This  subject  is  embraced  in  Dr.  Mason's  answer. 
There  is  embraced  in  it  also,  an  earnest  expostulation  with  Mr. 
Eankin,  on  a  difficulty  which  had  arisen  between  him  and  one 
of  the  most  able  and  promising  young  men  who  a  few  years  be- 
fore had  come  over  from  Scotland.  The  chief  ground  of  com- 
plaint was  a  connexion  which  Mr.  Bishop  had  formed  with  the 
Transylvania  University.  This  was  thought  by  Mr.  Eankin 
to  be  in  opposition  to  the  Academy,  which  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  calling  his  own.  "Whether  the  complaint  proceeded  from 
the  spirit  of  true  Christian  faithfulness,  or  from  an  indiscreet 
zeal,  it  would  'he  difficult  to  determine;  but  probably,  if  Dr. 
Mason's  expostulations  at  this  early  day  had  been  duly  heeded, 
the}^  would  have  prevented  a  most  acrid  controversy  which 
lasted  for  many  years,  and  which,  after  putting  on  a  variety  of 
new  phases,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  at  last  terminated 
very  unhappily  for  the  accuser  : — 

TO  THE  REV.  ADAM  RANKIN,  KENTUCKY. 

Hackexsack,  N.  J.,  9th  Oct.,  1806. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  letter  contains  matters  which  grieve 
me,  and  on  which  I  find  it  impossible  to  give  any  but  a  verj^ 
general  opinion.  Decide  between  those  of  you  who  have  op- 
posite views  concerning  Mr.  Bishop's  connexion  with  the 
University,  and  the  points  involved  in  it,  no  man  can,   at  this 


278  WISE   AND   BROTHERLY  COUNSEL. 

distance,  and  with  the  imperfect  information  which  I  possess. 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  division  itself  is  wrong,  and  can 
produce  only  mischief.  In  various  forms  has  the  enemy  assail- 
ed our  body,  and  being  foiled  in  other  attempts,  he  is  now 
trying  the  experiment  of  fomenting  dissensions  among  our  own 
members.  Who  is  to  blame  in  your  uneasinesses — the  Lord 
knoweth.  It  cannot  be  unseasonable  to  urge  the  Apostle's 
injunction:  "Follow  the  things  which  make  for  peace,  and 
things  whereby  one  may  edify  another."  The  best  of  us 
are  apt  to  be  too  much  directed  by  our  own  spirit,  and  to  allow 
too  little  for  the  feelings,  the  understanding  and  the  conscience 
of  our  brethren.  Your  age,  my  dear  Sir,  your  experience,  and 
your  entire  standing  in  the  church  in  Kentucky,  put  much 
in  your  power.  You  must  be  ready  to  bear  many  things  even 
from  your  juniors.  Gentleness  and  patience  will  do  more 
towards  removing  the  difficulties  of  both  sides  than  obstinate 
contention.  I  have  expressed  the  same  thing  to  Mr.  Bishop 
more  than  once.  Let  me  say  a  word  of  that  young  man,  whom 
I  think  I  know.  He  must  be  soothed  and  not  bearded.  Kind- 
ness will  melt  him;  harshness,  rouse  him  into  resistance,  and 
he  is  capable  of  resisting  desperately.  He  is  of  too  much 
importance  to  be  soured  away  ;  and  a  condescending  deport- 
ment on  your  part  may  go  far  towards  a  pacification.  Do  not 
mistake  me.  I  give  no  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  case ;  I 
have  none.  But  a  greater  than  ministers,  or  judicatories,  hath 
said,  that  "  a  soft  tongue  breaketh  the  bone." 

All  things  considered,  I  am  sorry  that  your  trustees  sent  the 
invitation,  mentioned  in  your  letter,  to  Mr.  Dobbin.  It  was 
certainly  premature ;  and  he  acted  prudently  in  declining  it. 
The  General  Synod  would  have  committed  suicide  in  sanctioning 
the  measure.  You  are  not  yet  ripe  for  the  erection  of  a  branch 
of  the  Theological  Seminary  in  Kentucky.  You  have  not  the 
books  indispensable  to  its  success,  nor  a  single  teacher  who  has 
been  trained  according  to  the  plan  which  the  General  Synod 
has  adopted,  and  which  I  hope  nothing  will  induce  them  to 
abandon.  Where  is  the  hardship  of  submitting  to  the  present 
arrangement  for  a  little  ivhilc,  till  you  shall  be  able  to  act  your 
part  with  vigour  in  the  common  system  of  ministerial  prepara- 
tion?    I  look  for  the  day  when  several  seminaries  may  be  insti- 


THE   PKIDE   OF   INDEPENDENCE.  279 

tuted  in  suitable  places.  But  we  must  encounter  difficulties  at 
first;  and  surely  the  perfecting  a  great  system  of  instruction 
for  our  future  ministry,  so  that  every  part  shall  harmonize  with 
every  other,  and  the  whole  cooperate  in  promoting  the  peace 
of  our  Zion,  is  with  sacriiices  even  larger  than  any  to  which  you 
will  probably  be  called.  One  principle  must  never  be  for- 
gotten, viz.,  that  whatever  be  the  number  of  our  seminaries, 
they  must  aggregately  constitute  one  whole ;  and  that  all  our 
students  must  at  some  period  of  their  course,  pass  through  the 
same  Alma, Mater ;  unless  we  mean  to  lay,  in  the  very  scheme 
for  preserving  our  unity,  the  causes  of  future '  schism.  Our 
churches  are  in  danger  of  exemplifying  the  common  frailty  of 
human  nature — rushing  from  one  extreme  to  another.  At  first 
it  was  hardly  possible  to  excite  their  attention  to  the  value  of 
a  proper  Theological  Seminary  at  all.  Now  they  have  begun 
to  favour  the  idea  of  having  several.  Thus  by  attempting  too 
much  at  once,  they  are  in  danger  of  losing  every  thing.  Festina 
lente  is  a  lesson  hard  to  learn,  but  fraught  with  practical  wis- 
dom. See  that  the  trunk  be  well  rooted  and  firm  before  you 
think  of  leading  off  branches,  lest  you  destroy  all.  That  sort  of 
"independence"  which  will  not  allow  youth  to  be  provided  for 
by  the  church  of  God,  humbles,  without  surprising  me.  It  is  the 
spirit  of  the  world,  which  desires  to  be  as  little  in  God's  debt 
as  possible.  Men  will  eagerly  grasp  at  advantages  from  parents, 
friends,  the  State ;  but  an  advantage  held  out  to  their  children 
by  the  hand  of  God,  through  the  agency  of  his  church,  they 
scorn  to  receive.  Are  these  Christians?  Or  do  they  suppose 
that  it  is  no  sin  to  ho,  proud?  Why  do  they  not  disdain  to  let 
their  sons,  when  in  the  ministry,  be  supported  by  the  church  ? 
The  principle  is  the  same,  the  form  only  different.  Oh!  when 
shall  we  have  more  of  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  and  less  of 
practical  atheism  in  t*he  shape  of  spirit? 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

In  nearly  all  his  correspondence  of  this  period  his  thoughts 
were  engrossed  with  the  Seminary.  In  addition  to  the  speci- 
mens already  given  of  his  various  efforts  at  home,  his  letters  to 
his  friends  abroad  are  still  full  of  the  same  subject.     Out  of 


280  THE   ONLY  SEMINAKY. 

many,  we  select  2:)ortions  of  one  addressed  to  a  friend  in  London, 
who  had  already  given  liberal  aid,  and  had  encouraged  the  hope 
of  still  more: — 

DR.  M.  TO   HENRY  THORNTON,  Esq. 

New  York,  22d  Nov.,  1806. 
My  Dear  Sir:  Our  Seminary  promises  well.     I  have  under 
my  charge  eleven  young  men  of  exemplary  character  and  re- 
spectable minds.     Some  of  them  have  natural  powers  which, 
Avith  due  cultivation,  will  qualify  them  to  adorn  any  station.     I 
expect  a  twelfth  every   hour.     This  is  the  only  experiment 
worth  naming  which  has  been  made  in  the  United  States  for 
the  vigorous  education  of  the  rising  ministry.     Professorships 
have  been  talked  of,  and  in  one  or  two  instances  founded;  but 
with  trifling  effect.     They  have  laboured  under  two  evils : — 
1st.  None  of  them  was  set  up  on  the  only  principle  of  education 
that  can  be  efl&cient,  viz.,  the  imposing  upon  youth  an  absolute 
necessity  of  thinking  ;  of  disciplining  their  faculties  by  a  strong 
tension ;  and  of  acquiring,  if  they  are  capable  of  acquiring,  a 
habit  of  close  investigation.     Every  thing  was  to  be  done  by 
lectures,  and  you  know  well  what  may  be  expected  from  that 
plan.     It  is   admirably  calculated  to  shed  a  lustre  over  tal- 
ents in  the  teacher  ;  but  to  be  of  comparatively  little  service  to 
the  pupils.     2d\y.  It  was  no  part  of  previous  schemes  to  provide 
for  the  support  of  students  who  might  not  be  in  affluent  circum- 
stances.    And  I  afQrm,  with  the  utmost   confidence,  that  no 
proper  Seminary  can  succeed  in  America  without  making  this 
one  of  its  principal  objects.     The  greater  number  by  far  of  those 
who  devote  themselves  to  the  pulpit,  are  from  respectable  fami- 
lies in  the  country.     At  home  they  feel  no  want.     Their  pa- 
rents and  friends  have  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  within 
themselves ;  but  there  is  very  little  money.    The  maintenance  of 
a  son  abroad,  especially  in  a  city,  requires  often  more  loose  cash 
than  would  be  expended  by  the  whole  family  at  home.     The 
mischief  is  not  to  be  remedied  by  placing  a  Seminary  in  the 
countr3^     For  exclusively  of  those  reasons  which  are  assigned 
in  the  letter  annexed  to  the  act  of  our  General  Synod,  formerly 
sent  you,  the  utmost  that  could  be  accomplished  would  be  a  re- 
iteration, not  a  removal  of  the  grievance.     There  is,  then,  no 


WANT   OF   WEALTH   AND   OF   UNION.  281 

alternative  but  either  to  let  our  youth  rush  unprepared  into  the 
ministry,  and  our  churches,  in  consequence,  fall  to  destruction ;  or 
to  meet  the  expense  of  a  better  system.  This  we  have  attempt" 
ed  in  order  to  prevent  the  second  evil.  The  plan  of  instruction 
which  you  have  seen,  was  intended  to  counteract  the  first.  But, 
my  dear  Sir,  you  have  no  conception  of  the  difficulties  to  be  en- 
countered. In  the  midst  of  abundance  throughout  our  land,  it 
is  next  to  impossible  to  procure  suitable  funds.  Through  the 
mass  of  the  community,  there  is  comparatively  little  money  cir- 
culating. In  the  cities  most  of  the  wealthy  are  irreligious ;  and 
the  weight  falls  upon  a  few.  It  might  be  supposed  that  denom- 
inations professing  the  same  truths,  and  organized  under  sub- 
stantially the  same  regimen,  could  obviate  the  difficulties  by 
uniting  their  strength.  Doubtless  they  might  do  much.  But 
to  such  a  coalition,  while  the  denominations  keep  separate,  few 
would  consent.  I  have  seen  some  experiments  on  that  princi- 
ple, and  seen  enough  to  fear  that  while  they  are  fine  things  on 
paper,  they  are  mere  mockery  in  fact.  Besides  that  miserable 
jealousy,  which  is  the  element  of  little  men,  and  often  the  in- 
firmity of  great  men,  there  are  too  many  managers — there  is  no 
energy — there  is  no  esprit  du  corps  (without  which  there  is  hardly 
anything  to  be  done  in  this  wayward  world) — and  the  machine 
would  be  too  unwieldy.  The  fact  is  that  every  denomination  has 
its  hands  full ;  and  were  they  all  to  act  with  spirit,  they  would 
find  that  they  could  not  press  against  the  barriers  which  might 
be  supposed  to  limit  their  exertions.  Let  them  do  what  they 
please,  the  boundary  recedes  as  they  approach,  and  presents 
continually  new  scenes  for  the  warfare  of  righteousness;  new 
fields  of  conquest  for  the  Christian  banner.  On  a  moderate 
computation,  six  thousand  ministers  of  the  Gospel  will  be  de- 
manded for  the  supply  of  this  country  in  twenty  years,  exclu- 
sively of  those  who  are  to  occupy  places  to  become  vacant  in 
that  period.  Without  something  like  a  miracle,  we  shall  have, 
ere  long,  in  the  bosom  of  our  settlements,  the  descendants  of  our 
own  bowels,  millions  of  white  heathen,  who  will  be  as  much  ob- 
jects of  Missionary  enterprise,  as  the  Hindoos,  or  the  Caffres. 
And  our  churches  are  asleep !  My  dear  Sir,  pity  and  pray  for 
us.  The  prospect,  at  times,  overwhelms  me.  It  paralyzes  my 
faculties,  and  weighs  down  my  spirit  to  the  earth.     I  should 


282  THE   FORCE   OF  EXAMPLE. 

die  with  anguish  and  despair  if  I  were  not  occasionally  to  "  re- 
member the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High."  All  may 
yet  be  well.  If  it  shall  please  God  to  give  a  progress  answer- 
able to  the  commencement  of  our  Institution,  I  shall  augur  good 
results.  They  who  treated  it  at  first  with  indifference,  with 
lightness,  with  ridicule,  and  with  contempt,  begin  to  look  at  it 
now  with  serious  interest.  I  can  perceive  a  disposition  to  profit 
by  our  example  working  among  other  denominations,  and  can- 
not help  considering  the  cause  of  enlightened  Christianity  as 
depending  to  an  extent  not  easily  definable,  upon  the  fate  of 
our  infant  Seminary.  My  anxiety,  therefore,  will  be  pardoned  ? 
and  my  friends  will  separate  it  in  their  estimation  from  that 
doating  upon  some  paltry  object,  and  that  pruriency  of  personal 
eclat,  which  so  often  array  themselves  in  the  guise  of  public 
spirit. 

As  we  cannot  go  on  without  revenue,  I  have  put  forth  my 
utmost  efforts  to  secure  it  by  setting  on  foot  permanent  subscrip- 
tions throughout  our  churches.  But  it  is  of  prime  importance 
to  connect  our  Institution  with  fast  property.  It  never  will  be 
safe  without  this.  The  danger  is,  that  instead  of  commanding 
the  men  who  are  to  direct  it,  the  men  will  command  it ;  so  that 
it  will  be  an  ambulatory  contrivance — travelling  from  place  to 
place,  according  to  the  residence  of  the  Professor.  It  cannot, 
of  course,  fail  to  dwindle  into  insignificance,  and  finally  to  per- 
ish. If  we  shall  be  able  to  secure  funds  adequate  to  the  erec- 
tion of  a  respectable  building,  and  the  creation  of  a  moderate 
capital,  the  proceeds  of  which  may  be  restricted  to  a  local  ap- 
plication, the  most  certain  step  will  be  taken  toward  the  stabil- 
ity of  the  institution. 

My  personal  share  in  all  this  business  is  extremely  laborious. 
The  care  of  this  Seminary,  which  occupies  several  hours  a  day, 
added  to  the  functions  of  a  numerous  congregation — two  ser- 
mons every  Lord's  day — catechetical  exercises  for  six  or  seven 
months  in  the  year — visiting  the  sick,  &;c.,  with  the  concern  of 
a  heavy  family  ;  the  weight  of  all  the  general  business  of  our 
churches,  and  all  the  avocations  attached  to  a  city  station,  re- 
duce me  almost  to  despondence.  Did  the  situation  of  my  tem- 
poral affairs  admit  of  it,  I  should  very  speedily — not  lay  aside 
preaching  the  Gospel,  which  is  my  glory,  but  disentangle  my- 


THE   FORCE   OF  EXAMPLE.  283 

self  from  the  details  of  a  congregation.  Deo  aliter  visum.  God 
has  differently  disposed  of  me,  and  my  affixirs.  I  believe  that 
He  has  done  best ;  although  1  should  thankfully  receive  from 
His  providence  a  partial  discharge. 

I  have  been  talking  to  you,  my  very  dear  Sir,  as  if  you  could 
enter  into  all  my  little  matters.  Pardon  my  loquacity.  It  is  a 
plague  of  your  own  inviting.  With  the  most  respectful  regards 
to  Mrs.  Thornton,  and  the  most  fervent  wishes  for  your  own 
and  your  family's  prosperity, 

I  am,  dear  Sir, 

With  much  affection,  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTEE    XXII. 
1807. 

MAQAZINK    AND   T^ETTBRS- 

Christian's  Magazine— Letter  to  Mr.  Thornton— Letter  to  Mrs.  Beckley— Letter 
to  Mr.  J.  M.  Duncan— Letter  to  Mr.  Eowyer— Lay  PreacliiDg. 

The  Christian's  Magazine,  an  influential  periodical,  edited  by 
Dr.  Mason,  was  commenced  in  January.  1807.  The  immediate 
occasion  of  it  was  the  publication  of  certain  assaults  upon  Pres- 
byterian doctrines  and  polity.  Being  honestly  opposed  to  the 
monarchical  principle  of  Church  government — and  (as  truth 
can  afford  to  smile  at  unsupported  pretensions)  being  perhaps 
unnecessarily  sensitive  to  the  assumptions  and  the  bearing 
of  an  hierarchy  which  denies  to  all  other  denominations  of 
Christians  the  possession  of  any  valid  sacraments  or  ministry, 
and  which  studiously  withholds  from  them  the  very  appel- 
lation of  Church — he  felt  provoked  to  a  conflict  which  he 
could  not,  he  thought,  without  pusillanimity  avoid.  Eespect- 
ing  the  ability  with  which  it  was  sustained  on  his  part,  there  is 
probably  no  diversity  of  opinion  on  either  side. 

Immediately  upon  the  appearance  of  its  first  number,  the 
magazine  made  a  marked  impression  on  the  public  mind  ;  and, 
though  unaided  by  the  usual  appliances,  it  obtained  a  wide 
circulation.  Before  the  issue  of  the  third  number,  a  new  edi- 
tion of  the  first  two  was  required.  Among  the  list  of  subscribers 
were  found  prominent  names  in  Great  Britain.  About  one 
hundred  copies  were  taken  at  Edinburgh.  As,  however,  the 
work  was  almost  exclusively  dependent  upon  the  Editor  for 


THE   christian's   MAGAZINE.  285 

contributions  to  its  pages,  and  as  he  had  no  store  previously 
prepared  aud  laid  up  for  the  purpose,  but  had  to  draw  directly 
upon  his  own  mind,  and  frequently  to  supply  "  copy"  from  his 
pen  just  as  the  type-setters  called  for  it,  his  labours  became 
very  oppressive.  In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Gray,  of  Philadelphia,  he 
says :  "I  was  obliged  to  prepare  the  sheets  as  the  types  were 
to  be  set  up."  In  one  to  his  uncle,  at  Edinburgh,  he  says : 
*'  Excepting  the  piece  on  '  Conscience,'  and  the  '  Christian's 
Life  of  Faith,'  I  was  obliged  to  write  the  whole  of  the  first 
number,  as  my  lazy  colleagues  left  me  in  the  lurch,  at  the 
very  moment  when  I  needed  their  aid ;  and  it  was  written  page 
by  page,  as  the  printers  dunned  me  for  the  manuscript."  It 
should  be  observed,  however,  that  for  the  last  two  volumes,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  John  B.  Eomeyn  was  associated  with  him  in  the 
editorship,  and  that  the  Rev,  Dr.  Alexander  McLeod,  besides 
some  reviews,  contributed  a  series  of  articles  on  "  The  Atone- 
ment of  Christ." 

Though  he  sometimes  complained  that  his  brethren  had  left 
liim  to  toil  alone,  and  that  even  a  large  share  of  the  business 
drudgery  and  perplexity  of  the  concern  for  two  years  was 
thrown  upon  him,  he  persevered  in  the  labour  with  steadiness 
and  success,  till  his  main  object  was  accomplished.  ]\rost  of 
the  articles  produced,  though  only  intended  for  the  occasion, 
are  now  regarded  as  of  permanent  value  ;  and  even  entire  sets 
of  the  magazine  are  still  in  demand. 

His  own  views  in  undertaking  the  publication  are  thus  given 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Thornton,  of  London  : — "  You  were  kind 
enough  to  request  any  publications  of  my  owu.  I  have  but 
one,  a  periodical  entitled  the  Christian's  ^^fagazine,  which,  for 
aught  I  can  tell,  it  requires  some  assurance  to  submit  to  your 
perusal.  The  chief  part  of  the  reviewing  department  has  hith- 
erto been  devoted  to  certain  ])ublicatious  on  the  subject  of 
church  government.  You  will  there  meet,  if  you  should  have 
the  curiosity  to  look  at  it,  with  opinions  opposed  to  the  divine 
right  of  the  Episcopal  Hierarchy,  and  these  very  freely  and 
strongly  expressed.  But  I  flatter  myself  that  dissonance  of 
views  on  this  point  will  not — I  am  sure  ought  not — to  alienate 
affection  among  those  '  who  have  obtained  like  precious  faith, 
through  the  righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.' 


286  THE   PUBLICATION  PROVOKED. 

Perhaps  I  owe  to  ray  dear  and  valued  Episcopal  friends  in  Eng- 
land an  account  of  my  reason  for  such  a  work.  I  do  not  choose 
to  retreat  into  that  common  right  of  opinion  which  they  as 
cheerfully  grant  as  they  openly  take.  I  had  never  on  this 
ground  entered  into  the  controversy.  But  it  was  impossible  to 
avoid  it.  The  press  teemed,  and  the  pulpit  resounded,  with 
excommunications  of  all  non-episcopal  churches  —  declaring 
them  to  be  without  a  ministry,  without  sacraments,  without 
ordinances — and  their  members  to  have  no  other  hope  of  sal- 
vation than  what  they  founded  upon  the  '  uhcovenanted  mercies 
of  QocV  This  was  too  much.  And  as  some,  who  walk  humbly 
before  God,  were  in  danger  of  having  their  peace  embittered, 
it  was  judged  necessary,  in  vindication  of  what  is  infinitely 
more  important  than  any  external  order,  to  put  these  exclusive 
doctrines  to  the  test;  and  that  naturally  involved  the  merits 
of  the  general  question.  You  have  my  explanation.  That 
everthing  has  been  written  as  it  ought  to  have  been  written,  I 
am  far  from  supposing.  Some  things,  not  unworthy  the  atten- 
tion of  Christians,  I  hope,  the  magazine  contains.  Such  as  it 
is,  I  send  it ;  and  shall  find  no  fault  if  you  send  me  back  the 
severest  flagellation  for  the  Presbyterians  that  England  can 
furnish." 

To  a  brother  in  the  ministry  he  had  previously  written: — 
*'  It  has  become  necessary  to  employ  measures  of  defence  against 
the  outrages  of  the  Ilierarchists.  We  have  long  treated  them 
with  courtesy,  even  while  they  showed  no  disposition  toward 
an  exchange  of  civilities.  But  there  is  a  point  beyond  which 
concession  is  dishonour,  and  to  that  point  matters  have  now 
arrived.  Treated  with  contumely  from  the  pulpit  and  the  press  ; 
their  ministrations  branded  as  impieties  and  themselves  as  thieves 
and  robbers ;  the  Presbyterian  clergy  cannot  sit  down  any  longer 
under  Episcopal  abuse  without  at  once  sacrificing  their  consciences 
and  authenticating  their  disgrace.  It  is  not,  however,  intended 
so  much  to  wage  war  against  the  prelatists,  as  to  establish  the 
Scriptural  truth.  This  seems  to  be  present  duty.  To  pass 
over  the  subject  of  church  government,  I  think  a  common  and 
sinful  omission  on  the  part  of  evangelical  ministers.  Laudably 
bent  upon  the  precious  doctrines  of  the  cross,  which  bear  di- 
rectly upon  the  sinner's  hope,  they  have  insensibly  dropped  the 


THE   DEATH   OF   MR,    BECKLEY.  287 

habit  of  instructing  their  flocks  in  the  constitution  and  arrange- 
ments of  the  Christian  Church.  This  is  certainly  for  a  lamen- 
tation. It  has  thrown  disrespect  upon  the  Eedeemer  as  king 
over  his  holy  hill  of  Zion  ;  and  the  churches  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  are  smarting  under  the  effects  of  their  negligence." 
During  the  present  year,  his  tenderest  sympathies  were  again 
repeatedly  called  forth  by  the  bereavements  of  friends.  As 
usual  on  such  occasions,  his  heart  readily  flows  out  in  endeav- 
ours to  comfort  the  mourners  by  presenting  some  of  those  melt- 
ing views  of  death  which  divine  revelation  affords.  One  or 
two  examples  will  be  here  given  : — 

DE.  M.  TO   MES.  MAEIA  BECKLEY. 

New  York,  20th  April,  1807. 

My  Dear  Madam  :  A  day  or  two  ago,  I  learned  from  the 
papers  the  affliction  with  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  afflict 
you.  The  sympathy  of  friends  can  do  very  little  toward  com- 
pensating the  loss  of  an  affectionate  husband,  although  it  brings 
some  soothing  balm  to  the  widow's  heart.  The  condolence  of 
this  family  claims  a  rank  with  that  of  your  nearest  relatives. 
But  your  effectual  support  and  consolation,  my  sorrowing 
friend,  must  spring  from  another  and  a  higher  source.  God 
has  declared  himself  to  be  "  a  father  of  the  fatherless,  and  a 
husband  of  the  widow."  It  is  your  privilege  to  resort  to  him 
as  reconciled  in  Christ  Jesus  the  Eedeemer,  for  all  that  your 
bereaved  condition  may  require.  "  Cast  thy  fatherless  children 
upon  me,"  is  his  gracious  direction,  "I  will  preserve  them 
alive  ;  and  let  thy  widows  trust  in  me,"  The  best  thing  I  can 
wish  for  you  is,  that  this  stroke  upon  3^our  earthly  comforts 
may  be  the  occasion  of  bringing  you  into  close  acquaintance 
and  fellowship  with  the  Father  of  mercies,  the  God  of  all  con- 
solation. Nothing  that  we  can  lose,  is  a  fit  portion  for  us.  We 
must  have  satisfying  and  permanent  good.  We  must  have 
something  that  will  remain  young,  when  we  are  growing  old  ; 
something  that  will  increase  in  life  as  we  approach  the  embrace 
of  death ;  something  that  will  multiply  its  streams  of  joy,  in 
proportion  as  the  rivulets  of  earthly  pleasure  successively  dry 
up  ;  something  that  will  go  with  us  through  the  grave  into  the 
light  and  purity   and  glory  of  that  better  world ;  we  must 


288  DEATH   OF   MATTHEW  DUNCAN. 

have  "  the  fountain  of  life."  In  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  him 
alone,  is  it  to  be  found.  Seek  it  there,  my  afflicted  friend,  and 
you  shall  add  one  more  seal  to  his  promise,  "  Him  that  cometh 
to  me,  I  will  in  no  ivise  cast  out.''''  The  season  of  grief  is,  in  a 
peculiar  manner,  the  season  of  mercy.  Press  then,  press  hard 
the  mercy-seat,  in  the  confidence  that  the  "  God  of  salvation" 
will  become  your  own  God. 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  next  was  addressed  to  a  nephew  on  the  death  of  his 
father : — 

DR.  M.  TO  MR.  J.  M.  DUNCAN. 

Neav  York,  ISth  April,  1807. 

My  Dear  John  :  Your  letters  of  the  16th,  which  arrived  this 
morning,  have  interested  us  all  in  your  feelings  and  your  afflic- 
tion. It  must  be  so.  "Your  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  and  the 
prophets,  do  they  live  forever?"  In  removing  your  parent, 
God  has  done  that  which  was  good  in  His  eyes,  and  ought  to 
be  so  in  yours.  That  your  departed  father  had  "  hope  in  his 
death,"  is  a  source  of  consolation  for  which  your  thanks  cannot 
rise  too  high.  I  too,  my  dear  John,  have  lost  a  folher,  and  un- 
der circumstances  more  touching  than  your  own.  [  closed  not 
his  eyes.  I  heard  not  his  words  of  faith  and  victory.  I  left 
him  in  health,  and  saw  him  no  more.  Then  I  came  back,  poor 
in  the  world,  to  a  ste|)mother  oppressed  with  griefs,  and  to  a 
sister  poor  like  myself.  But,  my  beloved  lad,  die  who  may, 
the  "Lord  lives."  He  has  been  my  father  and  my  friend.  If 
you  seek  Him,  he  will  be  yours  too.  Give  yourself  away  to 
Ilim  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  Cleave,  cleave  to  this  gracious  Re- 
deemer for  vour  everlasting  life.  Do  it  without  delav.  This 
is  a  season  in  which  the  Saviour  is  peculiarly  near  to  you.  Cast 
yourself  upon  Him,  and  you  shall  say,  without  being  put  to 
shame,  "When  my  father  and  my  mother  forsake  me,  then  the 
Lord  will  take  me  up." 

And  now,  my  dear  John,  remember  that  new  duties  devolve 
upon  you.  You  must  do  what  in  you  lies  to  fill  up  your  fa- 
ther's })lacc.  Sec  that  you  show  all  filial  respect  to  your  step- 
mother.    Sec  that  you  be  loving  to  your  brother  David,  and  to 


LAY-PREACHING.  289 

the  other  children  ;  that  you  behave  in  an  exemplary  manner 
for  their  imitation  ;  and  that  you  omit  nothing  in  your  power 
toward  forwarding  their  improvement  in  knowledge,  in  the  fear 
of  God,  and  in  good  conduct  in  the  house  and  out  of  it.  You 
are  old  enough  to  lead  the  worship  of  the  family.  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  you  will  not  omit  this.  "And  whatever  you  do, 
do  it  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  looking  to  Him  for  direc- 
tion and  aid,  in  the  assurance  that  you  shall  not  look  in  vain. 
For  myself,  I  now  consider  you  as,  in  some  measure,  one  of  my 
own.  Consider  yourself  so,  and  act  accordingly. 
Adieu,  my  nephew.  Grace  be  with  you  ! 
Your  affectionate  uncle, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

DR.  M.  TO  R.  BOWYER,  Esq.,  LONDON. 

New  York,  April  27,  1807. 

My  dear  Friend  :  Your  long  half-angry,  half-laughing,  but 
very  welcome  letter,  by  Mr.  Page,  I  received  on  the  20th  inst. 
I  account  it  no  small  mark  of  affection  for  a  man  three  thousand 
miles  off  to  break  up  his  night's  rest  in  scolding  at  his  absent 
friend,  merely  to  get  something  from  him,  if  it  be  but  another 
scolding.  You  shall  not,  as  you  see,  be  disappointed.  I  am  not 
in  a  humour  for  scolding^  and  you  must  be  satisfied  with  merely 
something. 

To  settle  in  three  words,  what  3'our  mode  of  expostulation, 
if  followed  up,  would  extend  to  three  reams —  You  are  mistaken. 
I  never  entertained  the  idea  that  you,  or  any  one  else,  must  go 
to  Glasgow  or  Aberdeen  half  a  dozen  years,  before  you  may 
venture  to  speak  a  word  for  your  Redeemer  to  your  poor  fellow- 
sinners.  God  forbid!  Be  your  "mouth  filled  with  his  praise 
and  his  honour  all  the  day."  Let  every  man  and  woman, 
every  youth  and  maiden,  and  little  child,  whom  he  has  taught 
to  love  him,  "show  forth  the  honour  of  his  name,  and  make 
his  praise  glorious!"  I  know  not  that  I  have  any  objection  to 
3^our  Sabbath  evening  exercises  with  your  rustic  villagers,  as 
you  have  described  them.  All  I  intended  was  to  caution  you 
against  taking  upon  yourself  the  office  of  the  ministry,  I  know 
how  prone  your  Englishmen  are  to  set  up  as  exhorters ;  and 
after  their  hand  is  in,  to  sneak  into  the  employment  of  public 
19 


290  SUCCESS  NOT  THE   RULE   OF   DUTY. 

teachers,  and  commence  preachers  of  the  Word.  If  you  go  no 
further  than  you  mention,  I  will  pray  God  speed.  But  as  to 
the  ministry,  my  opinion  remains  unaltered,  and  I  think  un- 
alterable. Even  the  good  which  men  who  run  without  being 
sent  may  do,  were  it  much  greater  than  it  is,  would  weigh 
nothing  with  me.  We  are  to  judge  of  duty,  not  from  conse- 
quences, but  from  the  Divine  warrant.  God  in  his  sovereignty 
may  overrule  the  most  unwarrantable  things  for  converting 
sinners  and  establishing  his  people.  But  God's  sovereignty  is 
not  our  rule.  Litanies  and  Liturgies,  and  holidays,  and  other 
exceptionable  things,  may  all  be  justified  on  the  principle  of 
their  having  "  done  good,"  And  if  we  pursue  this  argument  to 
its  results — that  is,  if  we  make  the  fact  of  a  thing  having  been 
useful,  the  test  of  its  having  been  agreeable  to  the  Divine  will, 
it  must  follow,  that  they  whose  ministry  is  successful  are 
called  of  God,  and  they  whose  ministry  is  unsuccessful  are 
not  called  of  Him.  Then  consider  Eom.  x.  21,  1  Cor.  iii.  6,  7, 
with  Isa.  liii.  1 ;  Christ's  own  commission  would  scarcely  be  valid 
by  this  rule.  No,  my  dear  friend,  when  I  am  looking  at  a 
general  principle  which  pervades  the  \QYy  essence  of  the 
church  of  Christ,  and  affects  her  whole  interests  in  all  ages  and 
nations,  I  am  not  to  have  my  judgment  blinded  by  an  appeal 
to  my  feelings;  and  by  pleas  drawn  from  the  partial  good  that 
may  be  produced  by  sacrificing  a  sound  general  principle.  The 
soul  of  one  man  is  as  precious  as  the  soul  of  another.  There- 
fore I  never  can  consent  to  adopt  a  plan  which  may  benefit  the 
souls  of  a  score  or  hundred,  at  the  expense  of  establishing  a 
precedent  which  shall  hereafter  injure  the  souls  of  millions. 
You  will,  I  suppose,  smile  at  my  fear,  which  is  very  serious, 
that  your  loose,  superficial,  impetuous  mode  of  introducing  men 
into  the  ministry  among  your  Evangelical  Dissenters,  will  com- 
bine eventually,  though  not  designedly,  with  your  carnal  hier- 
archy, in  extirpating  solid  Christianity  from  your  island.  This 
apprehension,  derided  now,  may  perhaps  be  seen  to  be  better 
founded  than  many  suspect,  when  the  hand  that  pens  these 
lines,  and  the  eyes  which  I  hope  will  read  them,  shall  be 
mouldering  in  the  tomb.     I  could  fill  a  volume — but  I  stop. 

Ever  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 
1807. 

MISSIONARIES  FROM    LONDON. 

Letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  Waugh — Letter  from  Rev.  G.  Burder — Letter  to  Robert 
Patterson,  Esq. — Letter  to  Mr.  Hardcastle — Letter  to  Rev.  David  Dickson — 
Tokens  for  the  Communion  witlidrawa  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gordon — Mr. 
Bethune  resolves  to  leave  the  connexion — Dr.  Mason's  Remonstrance. 

The  following  two  letters  of  introduction  arc  of  more  than 
ordinary  interest,  not  only  on  account  of  the  information  which. 
they  furnish,  but  on  account  of  an  incident  soon  to  be  noticed 
and  the  character  of  all  concerned.  Especially  must  Morrison's 
name  always  stand  high  on  the  roll  of  those  who  have  benefited 
their  race : — 

TO  DR.  J.  M.  MASON. 

Salisbury  Place,  Mary-le-Eone, 

London,  Jan.  12, 1807. 

My  Dear  Doctor  :  I  take  the  liberty  of  introducing  to  your 
friendly  notice  the  bearer,  the  Eev.  Robert  Morrison,  our  Mis- 
sionary to  Canton.  He  is  an  excellent  young  man  for  piety 
and  solid  parts.  He  is  a  member  of  our  church,  and  by  his 
devout  and  prudent  conduct,  has  very  much  endeared  himself 
to  my  heart.  lie  has  had  his  education  at  Hoxton  and  Gosport : 
and  for  more  than  a  year  has  been  under  the  care  of  a  Chinese 
gentleman  in  London,  for  acquiring  the  language.  Any  atten- 
tions you  show  him  will,  I  believe,  be  well-pleasing  to  God,  and 
gratifying  to  your  numerous  missionary  friends  in  London. 

Your  letter  has  done  my  heart  good.     Write  so  to  me  always, 
and  I  shall  bless  you  when  I  die. 

I  have  resumed  the  charge  of  my  dear  people,  and  earnestly 
crave  an  interest  in  your  prayers,  that  my  fidelity  and  perse- 


292  MESSRS.   MORRISON,    GORDON,   AND   LEE. 

verance  to  life's  end,  may  form  some  suitable  acknowledgment 
to  my  Divine  Lord  for  his  tender  mercy  in  restoring  me  again 
to  his  service.     I  remain  with  much  esteem, 

My  dear  brother,  most  truly  yours, 

ALEX.  WAUGH. 

TO  DR.  J.  M.  MASON. 

London,  Jan.  26,  1807. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  favour  of  March  11,  1805,  is  before  me. 
I  am  ashamed  that  it  has  not  been  acknowledged  long  before 
this;  but  the  great  multiplicity  of  your  own  engagements  will 
cause  you  to  make  the  best  apology  for  my  delay ;  for  indeed, 
like  you,  I  have  far  too  much  to  do. 

I  thank  you  for  your  candid  sentiments,  respecting  the  revi- 
vals of  religion  in  the  West.  It  is  necessary  to  think  and 
speak  with  caution  respecting  them.  Tares  will  be  found  among 
the  wheat ;  the  enemy  will  not  fail  to  sow  them. 

Permit  me  to  introduce  to  your  friendly  regard,  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Morrison,  who  is  going  to  Canton.  He  is  a  very  worthy  young 
man.  He  has  been  studying  the  Chinese  language,  and  goes 
to  China  to  perfect  himself  in  it,  with  a  view  to  the  translation 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Two  other  worthy  Missionaries,  intended  for  India — the 
Eev.  Messrs.  Lee  and  Gordon— with  their  wives,  accompany 
him.  It  was  thought  best  to  send  them  by  the  way  of  Amer- 
ica. Any  good  offices  which  you  can  render  them,  will  be 
gratefully  acknowledged  by  the  Missionary  Society  in  London, 
and  will,  I  trust,  be  acceptable  to  Him  whose  they  are,  and 
whom  they  serve. 

We  shall  be  happy  to  hear  what  is  doing  by  your  Missionary 
Society.  Let  me  hear  from  you,  dear  Sir,  as  soon  as  you  can 
find  opportunity. 

Believe  me  your  afifectionatc  brother, 

GEO.  burder. 

DR.  M.  TO  ROBERT  TATTERBON,  Esq.  THILADELPHLV. 

New  York,  April  24,  1807. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  do  you  and  myself  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing to  your  acquaintance  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Morrison  and 
Gordon,   missionaries  from  the  London  Missionary  Society  to 


FACILITIES  TO  BE   OBTAINED.  293 

the  East  Indies.  The  cause  of  their  coming  to  this  country  in 
order  to  take  shipping  to  the  places  of  their  destination,  is  the 
difficulty  of  getting  out  directly  from  Britain  ;  as  the  East  In- 
dia Company  have  shown  a  reluctance  to  encourage  the  spread- 
ing of  the  Gospel  among  the  poor  Heathen  in  and  near  their 
territories.  Now,  my  dear  Sir,  the  object  of  this  letter  is  to 
solicit  from  you  an  act  of  solid  service,  which,  if  in  3  our  pow- 
er, as  I  hope  it  is,  I  know  you  will  very  gladly  perform.  It  is 
to  assist  the  Missionaries  in  getting  recommendations  from  mer- 
cantile houses  in  your  city  to  their  friends  in  the  East ;  as  this 
will  be  of  special  importance  in  flicilitating  their  efforts  and 
rendering  them  externally  comfortable.  For  Mr.  Morrison,  it 
is  indispensable  that  he  obtain  a  pretty  strong  introduction  to 
the  American  consulate  at  Canton.  As  all  strangers  must  be 
ranged  under  some  national  banner,  and  as  he  cannot  expect 
any  countenance  from  the  British  agents,  his  only  resort  is  to 
attach  himself  to  the  American  flag,  that  he  may  be  permitted 
to  reside  in  the  factory.  Would  not  a  few  lines  from  the  Gene- 
ral Government  be  of  material  advantage  to  him  ?  Can  you 
not  without  difficulty  procure  this  favour?  Or  if  there  he  diffi- 
culty in  the  case,  can  you  not  procure  it?  On  such  an  occasion, 
I  trust,  we  shall  not  be  checked  by  anything  that  we  can  sur- 
mount. Mr.  Morrison's  object  is  to  acquire  the  language  of  the 
Chinese  with  a  view  to  compile  a  Dictionary  of  that  extraor- 
dinary tongue,  as  subservient  to  a  translation  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  Business  of  a  mechanical,  commercial  or  political 
sort,  he  has  none.  He  has  already  made  some  progress  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese,  and  has  submitted  to  the  labour  of 
transcribing  a  dictionary  containing  10,000  words.  Of  his 
character,  and  the  characters  of  his  companions,  you  may  give 
the  most  favourable  account  without  the  least  hesitation.  Their 
letters  to  us  are  such  as  to  command  the  most  implicit  confi- 
dence in  their  purity,  their  integrity,  their  disinterested  zeal 
for  the  name  of  our  divine  Kedeemer,  "  who  loved  us  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood."  Is  not  this  enough 
to  set  our  hearts  in  motion,  and  our  hands  at  work,  to  help 
them  on  ?  Introduce  them  to  Dr.  Gray,  and  others  who  may 
be  useful  to  them.  Sincerely  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON 


294  THE   MISSIONARIES. 


DR.  M.  TO  ME.  HARDCASTLE,  LONDON. 

New  Yokk,  April   27th,  1807, 

My  Dear  Friend  :  I  heard  with  much  concern  by  Mr.  Page 
that  your  health  had  for  some  time  been  impaired.  I  trust  the 
Lord,  the  healer,  will  be  to  you  as  he  has  been  in  times  past, 
your  refuge  and  strength,  your  very  present  help  in  trouble. 

Our  missionary  friends,  Mr.  Morrison,  and  Messrs.  Gordon 
and  Lee,  with  their  wives,  landed  at  this  place  on  Monday,  the 
20th  inst.,  after  a  very  uncomfortable  passage  of  79  days.  We 
are  refreshed  to  see  men  and  women  who  have  enough  of  the 
spirit  of  martyrdom  to  forego  all  for  the  sake  of  their  Divine 
Hedeemer.  May  he  bless  them  and  keep  them !  and  prosper 
them  in  the  way  in  which  they  go.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lee  joined 
with  us  3"esterday  in  commemorating  our  Lord's  death.  Mr. 
Morrison,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gordon,  set  out  for  Philadelphia 
on  Friday.  Letters  which  they  brought  for  that  place,  and  the 
importance  of  mercantile  introductions,  rendered  that  visit  alto- 
gether expedient.  Nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  our  part  to 
procure  them  the  most  eflEicient  patronage.  Mr.  M.  has  the  pros- 
pect of  a  passage  in  a  vessel  to  sail  from  this  port  for  Canton  in 
a  fortnight.  The  other  brethren  may  be  detained  longer. 
There  is  nothing  of  the  loiterer  about  them.  Mr.  M.  set  about 
his  business  the  moment  his  foot  was  on  shore,  and  pushes  it 
with  the  ardour  of  one  whose  soul  is  in  his  work. 

I  much  regret  that  my  leaving  the  city  to-morrow  for  three 
weeks  will  hinder  my  personal  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  brethren. 
But  my  lack  of  service  will  be  abundantly  supplied  by  our 
friend  Bethune  and  others.  Whatever  moneys  may  be  wanted 
for  the  missionaries  will  be  advanced  without  hesitation. 

I  beg  3'ou  to  make  my  excuse  to  Mr,  Burder  for  not  writing 
him  at  this  time,  as  I  am  extremely  pressed  with  business. 

Yours  with  much  affection, 

J.  M.   MASON. 

As  has  already  more  than  once  appeared.  Dr.  Mason  had  a 
very  high  regard  for  Mr.  Bethune,  son-in-law  of  the  venerable 
Mrs.  Isabella  Graham.  At  various  times,  he  received  from  him 
important  favours  which  were  always  readilj^  acknowledged  and 


AN-   INCIDENT.  296 

in  various  ways  cordially  reciprocated.  In  his  foreign  cor- 
respondence lie  often  found  occasion  to  speak  of  him  with  much 
affection.  Once  for  all,  and  for  a  reason  which  will  soon  b 
seen,  we  give  an  extract  in  which  he  expresses  his  feelings  in 
his  own  warm  and  striking  manner.  It  is  from  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  the  Eev.  David  Dickson,  Sen,,  of  Edinburgh,  in 
which,  as  he  was  often  called  to  do,  he  gave,  for  the  benefit  of 
poor  relatives,  such  information  as  he  had  been  able  to  search 
out  respecting  an  individual  who  had  died  in  New  York,  He 
then  adds,  "  His  watch,  my  friend  Mr.  Bethune  carries  with 
him  for  the  eldest  son,  Mr,  B,  knew  something  of  Mr.  McK., 
and  can  probably  supply  what  I  may  have  omitted.  I  beg 
leave,  my  dear  Sir,  to  associate  you  with  myself  in  the  happi- 
ness of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  this  gentleman.  His  good 
sense,  urbane  manners,  and  extensive  information  render  him  a 
valuable  addition  to  the  few  with  whom  we  wish  to  be  inti- 
mate ;  and  his  very  active  and  exemplary  piety  will  endear 
him  to  all  who  love  that  blessed  name  which  is  above  every 
name.  Precious  beyond  all  temporal  interests,  is  that  com- 
munion which  unites  the  living  members  with  the  living  head. 
Be  these  the  brethren  of  my  affection  ;  dearer  than  they  '  who 
sucked  the  breasts  of  my  mother !'  I  desire  my  life,  my  death, 
my  body,  my  soul,  my  time,  my  eternitj^,  to  be  with  them." 

We  now  come  to  a  startling  incident,  closely  connected  with 
several  of  the  esteemed  names  mentioned  above,  which  deeply 
wounded  the  feelings  of  Dr.  Mason,  and  many  Cliristian  friends 
in  New  York,  and  perhaps  of  none  so  much  as  Mr,  Bethune, 
It  should  be  observed  that  by  this  time,  the  Second  Associate 
Reformed  Church  had  become  separated  from  the  First,  and  had. 
a  pastor  to  themselves.  Mr.  Bethune,  at  the  special  instance  of 
Dr.  Mason,  had  united  with  them,  and  become  one  of  the 
Elders.  A  sacramental  occasion  occurring  some  time  after  the 
arrival  of  the  three  missionaries,  who  had  come  so  highly 
recommended,  and  who  were  intimately  associated  with  Mr. 
Bethune,  the  latter  procured  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gordon,  tokens 
for  admission  to  the  Lord's  table,  (according  to  a  Scotch  cus- 
tom)— a  privilege  which  they  had  already  enjoyed  in  the  First 
Church,  After  this,  some,  in  their  zeal  for  strictness  of  order 
and  discipline,   must  needs  call  the  Session  together  for  the 


296  TOKENS  WITHDRAWN. 

purpose  of  reviewing  the  procedure,  and  reconsidering  the 
propriety  of  wliat  had  been  done.  At  this  meeting  of  the 
Session,  it  was  actually  determined  to  take  back  the  tokens 
•which  had  been  given,  and  thus  debar  these  foreign  Christians 
from  a  privilege  to  which  they  had  been  invited.  This  decision 
could  not  touch  Mr.  Morrison,  as  he  was  a  member  of  Dr. 
Waugh's  church  in  London  ;  but  it  laid  the  ban  upon  the  other 
two,  Messrs.  Lee  and  Gordon,  with  their  partners,  who  were 
equally  estimable,  and  equally  well  recommended.  This  extra- 
ordinary measure  gave  such  a  shock  to  the  sensibilities  of  a 
heart  so  tender  and  generous  as  that  of  Mr.  Bethune,  that  he 
resolved  at  once  to  separate  himself  from  a  fellowship  in  which 
such  things  could  be  tolerated.  Before  doing  it,  however, 
he  gave  an  intimation  of  his  purpose  to  his  esteemed  friend  and 
former  Pastor.  This  drew  forth  a  powerful  remonstrance, 
which  is  of  sufficient  interest  to  be  here  inserted  at  length,  and 
which  was  succeeded  by  a  change  in  Mr.  Bethune's  purpose. 

Before  inserting  this  paper,  it  may  be  desirable  to  see  what 
was  the  state  of  Dr.  Mason's  mind  on  the  occurrence,  as  ex- 
pressed in  a  letter  to  a  friend  : — "  We  have  news  and  revolu- 
tions since  you  left  us.  Mr.  F.'s  Session  refused  to  admit  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Gordon  to  the  Lord's  table!  and  obliged  poor  Bethune 
to  take  back  the  tokens  which  they  had  actually  received  on  Fri- 
day evening!  You  may  easily  judge  of  B.'s  feelings,  and  of  mj^ 
own.  From  the  friends  of  these  worthy  missionaries,  did  I  get 
the  most  profuse  Christian  civilities,  and  our  church  liberal 
donations  to  her  public  fund.  Here  we  are  talking  at  our  fire- 
sides about  evangelizing  the  Heathen — we  are  praising  those 
who  consecrate  themselves  to  the  glorious  work — are  giving 
thanks  to  our  ascended  Master  for  putting  his  Spirit  within 
them,  and  exciting  them  to  such  arduous  services — we  are 
praying  for  his  presence  and  blessing  upon  them — and  treating 
them,  at  the  same  time,  like  Heathen  men  and  Publicans!! 
But  mark  the  consequence.  This  foolish,  unwarrantable,  and 
unchristian  conduct  threw  the  spark  into  the  powder,  which 
had  been  long  collecting  in  the  bosom  and  family  of  Bethune, 
and  had  nearly  blown  them  out  of  our  communion  altogether. 
But  that  mortification  has  been  prevented.  A  remonstrance 
which  I  addressed  to  my  friend,  had  the  desired  efiect.     He 


REMONSTRANCE.  297 

was  absolutely  resolved  to  quit  tlie  new  churcli ;    and  he  has 
resumed  his  seat  in  Cedar  street." 

The  remonstrance  referred  to  above  now  follows:  — 

DR.  M.  TO  MR.  BETHUNE. 

Greenwich,  30th  Sept.,  1807. 

My  Friend  and  Brother:  "My  friend  and  brother"  in 
holier  bonds  than  those  of  flesh  and  blood,  what  shall  I  say  ? 
or  how  give  vent  to  the  emotions  which  agitate  my  heart  ? — 
On  returning  last  evening  from  the  city,  my  eye  caught  upon 
the  scrutoir,  a  letter  addressed  to  me  in  your  handwriting.  I 
took  it  up  with  those  pleasurable  anticipations  which  always 
accompany  the  receipt  of  communications  from  you.  I  opened 
it — But  my  disappointment !  Oh,  how  cruel !  All  the  external 
ties  of  religious  connexion  snapped  asunder — all  the  commun- 
ion arising  from  our  being  members  of  the  same  ecclesiastical 
family,  renounced !  abruptly  renounced  !  renounced  without  a 
warning !  I  could  scarcely  believe  my  senses.  But  it  is  even 
so.  The  last  man  from  whom  I  could  have  expected  such  a 
blow,  the  first  to  inflict  it !  I  called  on  you  last  evening  to  dis- 
burden my  heart.  You  were  not  at  home.  I  have  perused 
and  re-perused  your  distressing  letter.  I  have  spread  it  out 
before  Him  who  is  not  unknown  to  you  as  the  "  wonderful 
counsellor,"  and  I  now  submit  to  you  the  best  j  udgment  which  I 
have  been  able  to  form.  Summarily  it  is  this,  that  the  step  which 
you  have  taken  in  withdrawing  from  the  body,  is  so  far  from 
appearing  evidently  proper  to  my  mincl,  that  all  my  perceptions 
of  truth  and  duty  compel  me  to  condemn  it^  as  altogether  improper 
and  unioarrantable. 

My  reasons  are  manifold,  and,  I  think,  cogent.  I  cannot 
detail  them  at  length,  for  I  should  write  a  volume  instead  of  a 
letter.     Take  the  outlines  : — 

Be  the  cause  of  your  departure  ever  so  valid  in  itself,  your 
acting  upon  it  was  too  precipitate  to  be  just  or  scriptural.  A 
note  from  Mr.  F.  on  ^^ Saturday/  evening,^''  "demanded,  on  your 
part,  a  serious  inquiry  into  your  situation  as  a  m.ember  in  com- 
munion with  a  church  professing  such  sentiments,"  viz.,  as  were 
expressed  in  that  note.  The  next  day  was  the  communion 
Sabbath ;  in  the  course  of  that  day  and  Monday,  amidst  the 


298  REMONSTRANCE. 

avocations  too,  as  I  suppose,  (althougli  that  is  a  mere  circum- 
stance)   of  your  official  and  commercial  occupations — in  the 
course  of  that  day,  and  Monday,  with  Saturday  evening,  the 
inquiry  is   instituted,   prosecuted,   closed;    and   on   Tuesday  a 
formal  message  is  communicated  to  3^our  own  pastor,  and  my- 
self, not  stating  a  grievance  which  ought  to  be  redressed,  but 
announcing  your  resolution  of  withdrawing  from  the  communion 
of  your  church !     Eeally,  my  friend  Bethune,  this  is  a  rapid 
work.     Can  you  review  it  calmly  and  coolly,  and  say  it  was 
right?    Was  the  question  of  so  little  moment  as  to  be  unworthy 
of  a  revision  after  your  first  impressions  ?     Could  you,  or  could 
truth,  have   lost   anything  by  taking  a  week  or  two  to  de- 
liberate?    AVas  not  something  more  due  to  the  feelings  of  your 
brethren  ?  to  the  solemnity  of  your  engagements  ?  to  the  gene- 
ral principles  of  religious  order?  to  the  character  of  the  body 
'at  large?  nay,  even  to  those  very  prejudices  which  are  driving 
you  away  ?    Indeed,  indeed,  it  is  all  wrong.    It  was  not  thus  that 
the  first  Seceders  left  the  Scottish  establishment ;  nor  the  Eng- 
lish Dissenters,  their  hierarchy  ;  nor  the  Protestants  the  church 
of  Eome ;  although  their  reasons  were  incomparably  stronger 
and  more  urgent  than  your  own.     You  have  done  what  you 
ought  not  to  have  done,  and  have  often  disapproved  in  others. 
You  have  sanctioned,  by  your  example,  which  will  not  fail  to 
be  recorded  and  quoted,  that  causless  and  hasty  desertion  of 
church    fellowship    which    is   a   dishonour   to    the    Christian 
name,  and  a  bane  to  the  Christian  interest.     You  may  not  be 
conscious  of  it,  but  I  very  much  fear  that  excited  feeling  has  had 
no  inconsiderable  share  in  producing  your  present  measures. 
You  would  be  apathy  itself  not  to  have  felt ;  and  your  depart- 
ure, folJoioing  so  very  closely  an  incident  which  probably  filled 
you,  as  it  did  me,  with  indignation  and  shame,  throws  an  air  of 
irritation  upon  your  conduct;  and  as  the  fervour  of  your  mind 
is  well  undersood,  it  will  be  hard  to  persuade  those  whose 
opinion  you  value  the  most,  that  you  have  been  guided  in  this 
matter  by  your  judgment   and   conscience   alone.     Nay,   my 
brother,  were  your  reasons  such  as  would  even  require  your 
withdrawing  idtimately,  there  is  nothing  to  justify  your  haste ; 
and  the  Lord  will  not  bless  it. 

But  what  are  your  reasons?     I  own  that  I  feel  a  glow  of 


REMONSTRANCE.  299 

satisfaction  when  I  enter  upon  them,  as  they  afford  me  a  hope 
that  the  Eubicon  may  be  repassed. 

You  view  the  dissatisfaction  with  your  attentions  to  our 
worthy  missionary  friends,  and  their  occasional  fellowship  with 
us  in  the  commemoration  of  our  Lord's  death,  as  belonging  to 
the  sentiments  and  principles  of  the  Associate  Eeformed  Church. 
If  it  were  so,  if  she  avowed  any  principle  which  should  exclude 
from  her  Christian  communion,  the  followers  and  servants  of  her 
glorious  Master,  I  too  would  forsake  her.  I  would  have  for- 
saken her  long  ago,  had  she  imposed  so  unhallowed  a  term  of 
communion.  But  this  is  not  the  fact ;  and  I  wonder  how  you 
should  have  fallen  into  such  a  mistake.  Look  at  the  chapter 
in  the  confession  of  faith  on  "the  communion  of  saints,"  and 
after  seeing  that  communion  defined,  you  will  read  that  it  is 
to  be  extended,  as  God  affordeth  opportunity,  "to  all  them  who 
in  every  place  call  upon  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  both 
theirs  and  ours."  I  quote  from  memory,  as  I  have  not  the  book 
at  hand,  but  I  believe  I  am  correct.  This  is  the  only  doctrine^  these 
the  only  principles^  on  that  subject,  which  I  know  as  belonging 
to  the  Associate  Eeformed  Church.  Kor  is  there  one  of  her  acts 
which  breathes  a  contrary  spirit.  In  that  little  instrument,  called 
"the  Constitution  of  the  Associate  Eeformed  Synod,"  which 
was  drawn  up  at  her  formation  in  1782,  there  is  a  provision  of 
this  general  tenor,  that  to  prevent  the  uneasiness  which,  in  a 
divided  state  of  the  church,  might  arise  from  the  indiscreet  ap- 
plication of  her  doctrine  of  communion,  her  members  deemed 
themselves  bound  to  submit  to  such  restrictions  of  their  liberty 
as  general  edification  should  require.  This  provision,  Istj 
asserts  i\iQ principle  laid  down  in  the  confession:  2d,  maintains 
Christian  liberty  in  reference  to  that  principle :  and  3d,  pro- 
fesses a  willingness  to  abridge  the  tise  of  that  liberty,  in  con- 
descension to  the  weakness  of  some,  in  precaution  against  the 
rashness  of  others,  and  in  order  to  promote  the  edification  of 
all.  Is  not  this  exactly  as  it  should  be  ?  Is  it  not  treading 
precisely  in  the  steps  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  yielded  his 
liberty  in  those  very  points  to  which  he  never  would  have  sub- 
mitted had  they  been  presented  to  him  as  terms  of  communion 
to  bind  his  conscience?  Afterwards,  in  an  overture  for  illus- 
trating the  doctrines  of  the  confession,  published  in  1787,  with 


SOO  REMONSTRANCE. 

the  approbation  of  the  Synod  as  to  its  substance,  those  miserable, 
contracted  notions  of  church  fellowship  which  have  so  justly 
offended  you,  are  expressly  refuted.  There  have,  it  is  true,  been 
several  attempts  in  past  years,  to  make  the  Associate  Eeformed 
Church  narroiu  her  ground.  But  with  what  effect  ?  They  have 
uniformly  failed.  Every  succeeding  attempt  was  more  con- 
fined and  feeble  than  the  former ;  they  gradually  died  away. 
They  were  buried  at  Greencastle  in  1799,  when  the  whole 
constitution  and  standards  of  the  Associate  Eeformed  Church 
were  definitively  and  exclusively  adopted :  and  no  one  has 
since  been  foolish  enough  to  aim  at  reviving  them.  It  is,  there- 
fore, a  very  great  error  to  suppose  that  those  sentiments  and 
principles  which  seem  to  have  so  many  advocates  in  the  Session 
and  congregation  of  Mr  F.,  are  the  sentiments  and  principles  of 
our  church.  Your  avowed  cause  of  separation,  then,  has  no 
existence. 

I  am  not  ignorant  that  the  views  of  many  private  members, 
with  here  and  there  a  minister  of  our  communion,  are  such  as 
you  attribute,  erroneously,  to  the  body.  I  have  had  too  much 
trouble,  and  suffering,  to  be  ignorant  of  it.  But  this  was  always 
considered  as  a  matter  of  forbearance  on  our  part.  It  never 
broke  up  fellowship  except  with  some  who  would  not  join  in 
the  Christian  compromise,  and  who  left  us  on  account  of  our 
Latitudinarianism  !  !  Hard  case,  truly  !  If  one  brother  run 
away  because  our  doors  are  too  wide^  and  another  because  they 
are  too  narrow  !  The  number  of  those  whose  views  on  Chris- 
tian communion  are  so  unhappily  contracted,  among  us,  is  very 
small  in  proportion  to  the  mass ;  is  daily  growing  less,  and  in  a 
little  time  will  be  extinct.  It  is  confined  almost  entirely  to 
members  directly  from  the  old  countries ;  of  this  number,  too, 
such  as  would  be  pertinacious  and  troublesome,  are  a  very 
trifling  proportion.  I  give  no  credit  to  the  pretended  mag- 
nitude of  the  discontent,  I  have  seen  such  things  before,  and 
have  seen  them  dwindle  down  into  almost  nothing.  It  is  an 
easy  thing  to  make  a  noise.  The  captious  and  conceited  raise 
their  cry  ;  the  ignorant  and  the  timid  join  it,  and  crj'-  yet  louder. 
Inexperience  is  appalled  ;  her  chafed  imagination  hears  the  roar- 
ing of  a  lion  in  the  croaking  of  a  frog.  I  design  these  remarks 
for  those  who  are  soon  frightened,  and  who,  imparting  their 


REMONSTRANCE.  301 

panic  to  tlieir  neighbours,  help  on  the  alarm.  Yet,  nothing  is 
more  inconstant,  irregular,  and  cowardly  ;  nothing  more  be- 
neath the  fear  of  a  man  endued  with  rational,  not  to  say  Chris- 
tian fortitude;  nothing  more  easily  resisted,  nor  more  certainly 
quelled,  by  a  firm  and  temperate  disregard  of  them,  than  these 
little  riots  of  prejudice,  these  petty  insurrections  of  vanity  and 
querulousness. 

But  allowing  to  the  obnoxious  "sentiments"  all  the  actual 
influence  which  you  ascribe  to  them,  can  they,  even  then,  vindi- 
cate your  thus  withdrawing  from  the  body  ?    I  think  not. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  no  slight  evil  that  will  justify  the  dis- 
ruption of  church  ties,  at  any  time.  Some  corruptions  there 
must  be  in  doctrine,  worship,  or  order,  of  so  atrocious  a  nature 
as  absolutely  to  pollute  the  conscience  ;  or  something  so  entirely 
destructive  of  personal  edification  as  not  to  be  remedied,  to  free 
a  retreating  member  from  the  charge  of  schism.  Speak  I  this 
as  a  man  ?  or  saith  not  the  Scripture  the  same  also  ?  Eead,  at 
your  leisure,  the  New  Testament  injunctions  and  precedents, 
and  I  am  sure  you  will  coincide  with  me.  What  reason,  but 
some  such,  can  absolve  church  members  from  their  obligations? 
or  revoke  their  plighted  faith?  Say,  now,  my  friend:  say  as 
before  Him  with  whom  you  are  accustomed  to  walk,  whether 
the  facts  before  us  furnish  such  a  case.  There  is  no  sinful  term 
of  communion  oifered  to  you  ;  for  the  thing  to  which  you  object 
never  was  a  term  of  communion,  nor  is  among  the  principles 
recognized  by  the  Associate  Reformed  Church.  It  is  nothing 
more  than  the  private  scruples  of  some  whom  you  love  in  the 
Lord ;  and  the  private  notions  of  some  who  are  much  too  phar- 
isaical  in  their  attachment  to  peculiarities  of  denomination.  The 
utmost  that  is  asked  from  you,  even  according  to  your  own  rep- 
resentation of  facts,  is  a  retrenchment  of  your  liberty  on  a  par- 
ticular point  which  seldom  occurs ;  which  maj'  not  occur  again, 
under  equally  interesting  circumstances,  during  your  whole  life. 
But  what  does  your  present  conduct  declare?  Nothing  less  than 
this,  that  your  individual  sense  of  Christian  liberty  shall  be 
gratified  to  the  uttermost,  or  3^ou  will  break  off  from  your 
church.  Can  any  church  under  heaven  last  one  year,  if  such 
be  the  maxims  of  her  members?  "The  prejudices  are  unrea- 
sonable, they  are  unscriptural ;  they  militate  against  that  'love 


302  KEMONSTRANCE, 

to  the  brethren'  which  we  are  commanded  to  cultivate ;  they 
tend  to  cherish  the  dangerous  error  of  laying  the  weight  of 
Christian  character  upon  mere  externals."  Be  it  so !  But 
the  same  objection  holds  to  associating  with  any  whose  infirmi- 
ties are  not  sinless.  They  all  tend  in  one  way  or  other  to  in- 
jure the  truth  and  impair  the  order  of  God's  word.  What  then? 
Is  an  opinion,  not  affecting  immediately  the  vitals  of  Christian- 
ity, but  in  our  apprehension  nnscriptural  and  of  inauspicious 
effect,  never  to  be  a  matter  of  forbearance  ?  Is  your  trial  any 
thing  like  that  of  the  early  believers  on  whom  there  was  an  at- 
tempt to  impose  an  unlawful  term  of  communion?  "Except 
ye  be  circumcised  and  keep  the  law  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be 
saved."  The  Apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem  did  not  settle 
this  question  by  advising  all  who  opposed  the  Judaizing  Chris- 
tians, to  desert  their  fellowship  and  go  over  to  the  Gentile  part 
of  the  church.  Was  there  not  a  mighty  clamour  raised  about 
the  distinction  of  meats?  yet  the  apostle,  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  quieted  it,  not  by  directing  those  who  had 
too  much  light  to  keep  up  the  distinction  to  withdraw  from 
their  mistaken  brethren,  but  to  curtail  their  own  liberty  ;  to  let 
their  faith  on  these  subjects  be  their  consolation  before  God, 
The  same  was  done  in  the  case  of  the  Jewish,  refusing  to  com- 
municate with  the  Gentile,  Christians.  This  was  not  admitted 
as  a  reason  for  those  of  the  former  who  were  better  instructed 
going  away  from  their  less  instructed  brethren  ;  but  it  was  a 
very  good  reason  for  remaining  in  their  communion,  and  con- 
tributing to  their  emancipation  from  an  error  about  the  genius 
of  the  evangelical  dispensation.  I  am  not  able  to  discern  the 
difference  between  the  j^rmciple  of  their  situation  and  your  own; 
and  therefore,  must  say  that  your  separation  is  unscriptural  and 
unwarrantable. 

So  far  as  I  know,  I  would  probabl}-  go  all  the  lengths  on  that 
subject  which  you  would  deem  proper.  My  sentiments  on  it 
are  no  secret;  at  least  I  have  never  attempted  to  conceal  them; 
but,  notwithstanding,  I  have  for  more  than  fourteen  years,  that 
is,  during  the  whole  of  my  ministry,  submitted  to  the  most 
painful  and  mortifying  restrictions  of  my  libert}^,  that  I  might 
not  lay  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  my  brother,  nor  mar 
my  own  usefulness  in  the  Church  of  God.     I  look  back,  with  a 


EEMONSTRANCE,  303 

good  conscience  and  with  much  thankfulness,  that  I  was  en- 
abled to  put  up  with  the  restraint  which  you  now  throw  from 
you.  I  the  more  wonder  at  you,  because  you  have  certainly, 
for  a  succession  of  years,  endured  for  the  truth's  sake,  and  for 
the  profit  of  many,  much  greater  "  hardness"  than  that  from 
which  you  now  shrink. 

In  the  next  place,  were  the  evil  of  which  you  complain  as 
momeui^ous  as  your  letter  represents  it,  you  cannot,  with  the 
authority  of  Christ  to  support  you,  withdraw  till  you  have  tried 
all  reasonable  means  of  removing  it.  You  have  no  right  to  re- 
tire quietly,  and  leave  your  brethren  under  what  appears  to 
you  sinful.  I  am  no  advocate  for  a  contentious  spirit ;  but  a 
Christian  cannot  exonerate  his  conscience  without  endeavour- 
ing, in  his  place,  to  keep  or  take  sin  from  the  church  as  well  as 
from  his  brother.  Your  duty,  if  you  continue  of  the  opinion 
that  the  "sentiments"  you  explode  are  among  the  principles  of 
the  Associate  Eeformed  Church,  unquestionably  was,  first  to 
lay  your  difficulty  affectionately  and  respectfully  before  the 
proper  judicatory,  and  if  you  received  no  satisfliction,  to  have 
asked  for  a  release  from  their  connexion.  But  you  have  taken 
the  business  into  your  own  hand ;  you  have  first  proclaimed 
your  withdrawing  from  your  church,  and  then  demanded  a  cer- 
tificate of  your  standing.  These  things  ought  not  so  to  be. 
You  have  acted,  my  friend,  in  this  particular,  without  your 
wonted  circumspection.  You  have  taken  upon  yourself  to 
decide  a  question  in  which  the  Church  of  God  is  a  party,  with- 
out so  much  as  giving  her  an  opportunity  to  set  her  reasonings 
over  against  yours.  Therefore  your  separation,  under  its  actual 
circumstances,  cannot  be  justified. 

In  the  third  place,  if  you  shall  examine  the  matter  closely 
you  will  perceive  that  you  have  done  the  very  thing  for  which 
you  condemn  others.  They  are  not  willing  to  receive  into 
their  communion  persons  who  are  not  of  their  own  denomina- 
tion, and  whose  ideas  of  public  order  are  not  consonant  with 
their  own  ;  and  you  refuse  to  keep  your  communion  with  those 
who,  in  your  eyes,  are  not  correct  as  to  the  extent  of  the  com- 
munion of  saints  in  the  Church  visible.  They  would  tear 
themselves  from  your  communion  for  admitting  our  Christian 
brethren;  and  you  would  tear  j'ourself  from  their  communion 


304  REMONSTRAlSrCE. 

for  not  admitting  them.  As  neither  of  you  will  pretend  that 
the  essence  of  Christianity  is  involved  in  the  debate,  I  cannot 
see  the  difference  between  your  spirits.  The  one  is  just  as 
much  to  blame  as  the  other,  or  rather  the  weight  of  the  argu- 
ment is  on  their  side,  and  the  weight  of  the  blame  on  yours. 
You  acknowledge  that  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  govern- 
ment has  a  Divine  sanction.  The  difficulty  with  many  truly 
spiritual  is  this,  whether  every  act,  even  of  occasional  commun- 
ion, does  not  involve  the  consideration  of  the  Church  as  a 
visible  organized  society,  and  consequently,  a  reciprocal  appro- 
bation of  each  other's  order.  They  think  that  it  does;  I  am 
satisfied  that  it  does  not ;  and  therefore  with  me  it  is  an  affair 
of  liberty,  and  so  it  is  with  you.  Now,  whatever  be  your 
opinion  at  present,  you  will  find  upon  a  close  inspection,  that 
there  are  much  tougher  and  more  puzzling  arguments  on  the 
side  of  their  objection,  than  can  possibly  be  mustered  in  vindi- 
cation of  your  asserting  your  liberty  with  so  high  a  tone  as  to 
break  your  church  connexion  rather  than  yield  it.  If  you 
carry  your  principle  through,  seeing  it  conflicts  with  mdividual 
scruple,  and  not  wilh.  public  profession,  3^ou  would  never,  here- 
after, admit  to  the  same  sacramental  table  with  yourself,  any 
one  who  had  not  freedom  to  renounce  all  his  predilections  for 
that  particular  restraint  which  you  cannot  away  with.  For  the 
reason  which  will  justify  you  in  withdrawing  from  him,  will 
equally  justify  you  in  refusing  to  let  him  draw  nigh  to  you. 
And  then,  I  ask,  whether  you  will  not  have  completely 
changed  places  ?  "  Therefore  thou  art  inexcusable,  O  man, 
who  thus  judgest,  for  wherein  thou  judgest  another,  thou  con- 
demnest  thyself;  for  thou  thyself  that  judgest,  doest  the  same 
things." 

Having  briefly  reviewed  your  separation  as  a  matter  of  r/if/Zi^, 
I  must  beg  your  patience  while  I  solicit  you  to  look  at  it  with 
me,  as  a  matter  o^ expedience.  I  do  not  insinuate  that  anything 
Avrong  can  be  expedient;  but  as  the  question  of  expediency  is 
often  auxiliary  to  the  question  of  right,  and,  where  there  are  no 
antecedent  obligations^  may  absolutely  determine  it,  it  cannot  be 
amiss  to  inquire  whether  the  step,  now  under  discussion,  was 
directed  by  that  "  wisdom  which  dwells  with  prudence." 

1.  It  is  always  a  hazardous  thing  for  a  man  past  five  and 


REMONSTRANCE.  305 

thirty  to  change  his  habits.  Unless  he  has  previously  laboured 
under  such  impediments  to  a  sound  judgment  as  will  be  of  ex- 
cuse, his  transactions  weaken  people's  confidence  in  his  under- 
standing, his  stability,  and  his  integrity.  It  is  no  easy  thing  for 
him  to  replace  cords  which  for  a  dozen  years  of  the  most  suscep- 
tible time  of  his  life,  have  wound  themselves  around  his  heart. 
You  are  a  personal  witness  that  one  of  the  effects  of  the  Taber- 
nacle in  Scotland,  has  been  to  unsettle  connexions  thoroughly 
fixed,  and  throw  hundreds  of  serious  people  as  a  sort  of  religious 
vagabonds  upon  the  community.  You  ought,  therefore,  to  have 
most  imperious  reasons  for  your  changing,  both 'on  your  own 
account,  and  on  account  of  the  example  you  are  setting  to 
others. 

2.  Is  there  any  probability  of  your  being  as  useful  in  any 
other  connexion  as  in  your  present  ?  I  mean  your  connexion 
with  the  body.  Your  acquaintance  with  human  nature  will 
tell  you  that  no  stranger  coming  into  any  regulated  community, 
can  expect  the  same  confidence  to  be  reposed  in  him  as  in  those 
whom  they  have  tried.  Years  must  roll  away  before  you  can 
get  that  confidence;  and  it  will  always  be  hampered  with  the 
recollection  that  it  was  reposed  in  you  by  another  body,  and 
that  you  suddenly  deserted  them.  Whatever  be  the  pitiful 
carpings  of  individuals,  3^ou  certainly  know,  and  \i  you  do  not, 
/do,  that  there  is  no  individual  of  your  age  among  the  laity  on 
whom  more  reliance  is  placed  in  regard  to  all  great  questions, 
than  on  yourself.  It  is  at  least  problematical  whether  you  ever 
gain  so  much  among  other  connexions.  I  speak  not  out  of  disre- 
spect to  you,  but  according  to  the  usual  course  of  human  affairs. 
You,  at  any  rate,  surrender  a  certain  for  an  uncertain  usefulness. 

3.  Are  you  sure  that  you  will  not  eventually  injure  the  Mis- 
sionary cause  by  that  very  step  in  which  you  intend  to  show 
your  affection  for  it?  You  have  not  forgotten  that  one  of  the 
most  formidable  obstacles  in  its  way  arose  from  the  fear  that  it 
tends  to  break  down  individual  denominations.  And  now  you, 
than  whom  no  man  more  strenuously  discouraged  that  idea,  nor 
embarked  more  heartilj^  in  Missionary  plans,  support  that  ob- 
jection by  your  own  deed,  because  you  break  with  your  own 
congregation,  for  not  giving  up  what  many  of  them  think  are 
their  proper  peculiarities,  in  order  to  accommodate  some  of  the 

20 


306  REMONSTRANCE. 

foreign  Missionaries.  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  sound  reasoning ; 
but  that  it  is  plausible,  and  ought  not  to  be  called  up,  if  it 
can  be  avoided. 

4.  Have  you  weighed  all  the  consequences  which  may  pro- 
ceed from  discussions  originating  in  this  step  of  yours  ?  I  can- 
not trace  them.  Some  of  them  may  be  delicate  ;  some  vexatious, 
without  any  equivalent  for  the  vexation. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  is  clear  to  me  that  you  have  been  rash, 
and  have  entered  into  temptation.  Our  Missionary  friends  are 
strange  Christians,  very  different  from  my  hope  of  them,  if  they 
could  not  be  induced,  after  proper  explanations,  to  bear  with 
the  untoward  conduct  of  a  church,  without  other  sentiments 
than  those  of  regret.  They  will  not,  I  am  persuaded,  think  con- 
temptuously of  those  whose  views  cannot  meet  their  own ; 
well  knowing  that  the  liberality  of  some  sections  of  Christians 
is  as  much  the  effect  of  mere  habit,  and  has  as  little  to  do  with 
enlightened  principle,  as  the  contractedness  of  others. 

I  shall  probably  be  awkwardly  situated.  Had  I  anticipated 
any  uproar,  I  should  have  done  as  I  always  did  before,  sacrifice 
my  liberty ;  and  endeavoured  to  conciliate  my  missionary 
friends.  But  having  exercised  only  a  recognized  right,  and 
enforced  one  of  our  own  principles  of  communion,  under  cir- 
cumstances not  marked  with  imprudence,  I  shall  not,  most 
assuredly,  retract  nor  recede.  I  can  waive  rights,  but  not  re- 
linquish principle.  Of  this,  then,  I  personally  complain,  that 
you  abandon  me  at  the  time  when  you  ought,  in  a  common 
warfare,  to  have  linked  your  efforts  and  your  destiny  with  my 
o\vn,  as  I  should  have  done  with  j^ours.  But  no  matter.  If  I 
must  ngain  come  into  the  field,  I  have  no  objection.  If  I  go,  I 
must  be  sivept  away  ;  no  man  shall  accuse  me  of  retiring  before 
the  swelling  torrent.  My  God  assisting  me,  I  shall  breast  the 
stream  and  buffet  the  wave  while  1  have  an  atom  of  strength 
remaining. 

Other  things  in  abundance  crowd  upon  me — but  I  stop.  The 
dispensation  is  mysterious.  To  me,  however,  individually^  it 
addresses  a  language  which  I  am  at  no  loss  to  interpret.  I  have 
had  my  idols.  My  political  idol  was  cut  down  in  a  way  which 
fills  me  with  an  anguish  and  a  horror  that  time  has  not  dimin- 
ished.    If  I  had  idols  in  religious  friends,  I  had  them  in  the 


REMONSTRANCE.  307 

family  of  that  dear  woman  whose  gray  hairs  are  going  with 
sorrow  to  the  grave.  My  towering  spirit  needed  to  be  brought 
down,  and  my  bursting  heart  entreats  that  it  may  be  brought 
down  most  effectually  ;  anything  that  shall  teach  me  to  live  like 
a  little  child  in  implicit  confidence  upon  my  Father  in  heaven. 

"What  is  the  aspect  of  this  providence  toward  you,  I  presume 
not  to  conjecture;  but  that  there  is  a  rod  in  it,  I  am  sure. 

A  short  note,  recalling  your  yesterday's  determination,  is  all 
that  I  desire  in  writing;  if  indeed,  I  shall  be  so  happy  as  to 
receive  such  an  one.  Further  communications  I  wish  to  be 
verbal,  as  I  have  no  leisure  for  protracted  correspondence,  nor 
any  conviction  of  its  utility, 

I  leave  the  whole  affair  with  the  Lord.  If  he  shall  permit  it 
to  keep  the  course  which  it  has  begun,  I  shall,  notwithstanding 
appearances,  have  good  cause  to  praise  him  ;  for  he  is  the 
health  of  my  countenance  and  my  God. 

In  this  faith  m.y  grieved  spirit  finds  consolation.  And  I 
rejoice  that  whatever  ties  be  broken,  there  are  everlasting  ties 
by  which  I  am,  most  affectionately,  yours,  &c., 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CIIAPTEE   XXIV. 

1808. 

CONGRKQATIONAL    LIBRARIES     JOURNEY 

THROUGH    NEW    ENGLAND,    AND 

LETTERS. 

Congregational  Libraries — Letter  from  H.  Thornton,  Esq.,  Loudon — Church  at 
Kingston — Letter  to  Dr.  Stevens — Gen.  Hamilton— Letter  to  E.  Mason,  Edin- 
burgh— Letter  to  Mrs  Smart — Letter  to  Mrs.  A.  Gibson — Letter  to  Eev.  A. 
Waugh,  London — Letter  to  Rev.  A.  Hunter,  Edinburgh — Letter  to  Rev.  Geo. 
Burder,  London — Letter  to  Mr.  Hardcastle,  London — Letter  to  Mr.  J.  Norris — 
Pulpit  Eloquence — Letter  to  Rufus  King,  Esq. — Reply — Letter  from  Eev.  Moses 
Stuart — Letter  from  Geo.  Cabot,  Esq.,  Boston — Reply. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  1808,  Dr.  Mason,  from  a 
committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  presented  a  bill  for  the 
"  Institution  of  Congregational  Libraries,"  which,  with  some 
amendments  was  adopted.  It  is  another  proof  of  the  earnest- 
ness with  which  he  was  intent  upon  promoting  the  great  inte- 
rests of  religion  through  well  qualified  ministers.  The  reason 
and  object  of  this  act  are  sufiiciently  expressed  in  its  preamble 
and  first  section  : — 

"  The  ministers  and  elders  in  General  Synod  convened,  taking 
into  their  serious  consideration  the  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments which  ministers  in  general  experience  in  prosecuting  the 
studies  required  of  them  by  the  word  of  God  and  by  the  nature 
of  their  office,  from  the  want  of  those  literary  helps  which  are 
indispensable  to  the  intelligent  and  profitable  discharge  of  their 
duties  ;  desirous  of  removing  the  impediment  which  is  thereby 
given  to  the  progress  of  pure  and  enlightened  Christianity;  and 
perceiving  this  important  object  to  be  unattainable  while  access 
to  valuable  and  necessary  books  is  to  be  procured  only  at  the 
private  expense  of  ministers  : 

"Do  hereb}^  direct  and  ordain,  that  it  be  and  it  hereby  is, 
recommended  to  all  the  congregations,  settled  and  vacant,  under 


DONATION   TO   THE   SEMINARY.  ^   309 

their  care,  to  make  an  annual  contribution  for  tlie  purpose  of 
purchasing  a  library,  which  shall  be  the  property  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  shall  be  appropriated  to  the  use  of  their  minister  or 
ministers  for  the  time  being." 

Then  follows  a  detailed  plan  for  selecting,  preserving,  and 
perpetuating  such  libraries,  which  needs  not  to  be  further  no- 
ticed than  to  say  that  it  involved  a  provision,  whose  operation 
added  not  inconsiderably  to  the  amount  of  his  own  labours  in 
the  station  where  Providence  had  placed  him. 

At  this  meeting  there  was  reported  a  donation  to  the  Semi- 
nary from  Mr.  Henry  Thornton,  of  London,  accompanied  by  a 
characteristic  letter  from  the  donor : — 

TO  DR.  MASON. 

LoxDOX,  Jan.  19,  1808. 

Dear  Sir  :  Contemplating  the  magnitude  of  your  object  and 
the  reasonableness  of  your  views,  I  cannot  allow  myself  to  for- 
bear from  rendering  you  some  assistance.  I  write,  therefore, 
now  to  say  that  you  are  welcome  to  draw  on  me  for  one  hun- 
dred pounds,  sterling,  some  part  of  which  I  hope  to  recover 
from  Mr.  Wilberforce,  and  possibly  another  friend  or  two.  I 
must  not  at  present  pledge  myself  for  the  time  to  come.  I  will 
however,  if  it  please  God,  again  think  upon  your  plans  a  twelve- 
month hence.  In  the  meantime,  I  wish  you  all  success  in  en- 
deavouring to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Gospel  of  peace  in 
this  perturbed  world,  as  indeed  one  of  the  best  means  of  laying 
that  fierce  spirit  which  so  lamentably  prevails.  I  grieve  to  see 
that  America  and  England  seem  so  ill  to  understand  each  other. 
Surely  the  strides  towards  universal  dominion  made  and  mak- 
ing by  the  present  master  of  the  continent  of  Europe  ought  to 
unite  all  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  of  the  independence  of 
nations. 

But  I  will  not  enter  into  the  present  topics  of  political  dis- 
cussion. I  have  not  indeed  as  yet  made  up  my  own  mind  upon 
them  in  every  particular.  But  the  Parliament  in  general  will 
doubtless  support  the  minister ;  and  the  importance  of  what  are 
here  considered  to  be  our  naval  rights,  and  among  these,  the 
right  of  retaliating  on  our  enemy  by  a  conduct  generally  analo- 
gous to  that  which  our  enemy  observes  on  the  ocean,  is  strongly 
felt  by  our  Independent  members. 


310  APPLICATION"   FEOM   KINGSTON. 

May  I  trouble  you,  in  drawing  your  bill,  to  add  £l  95.  to  it, 
and  to  pay  that  sura  to  any  representative  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Ma- 
son, of  New  York  or  Boston,  with  whom  I  formerly  had  an 
account,  if  you  can  conveniently  find  such  person.  I  would  beg 
you  to  give  this  trifle  in  charit}^,  if  it  is  troublesome  to  find  the 
owner.  The  sum  by  accident  was  not  drawn  for  by  Mr.  Mason, 
and  there  is  a  correctness,  even  in  these  small  matters,  which  it 
is  useful  to  observe. 

I  am,  dear  Sir, 
Your  very  obedient  friend  and  servant, 

HENRY  THORNTON. 

Fourteen  students  had  attended  the  Seminary  during  the  pre- 
vious term,  and  had  been  examined  on  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments in  their  original  languages,  and  on  their  other  studies, 
and  approved  b}^  the  Board  of  Superintendents. 

Its  fruits  and  promise  had  at  this  time  already  attracted  atten- 
tion beyond  the  bounds  of  the  denomination  which  had  establish- 
ed it.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  a  letter  was  sent  to  the  Pro- 
fessor, Feb.  1,  1808,  by  the  Consistory  of  the  Dutch  Church  at 
Kingston,  Ulster  county,  for  a  candidate.  Of  this  letter,  we 
subjoin  the  principal  part : — 

"  Dear  Sir  :  Upon  an  application  of  the  Congregation  of  our 
Dutch  Church  in  this  town,  the  Consistory  have  resolved  that 
application  be  made  to  you,  Sir,  for  the  recommendation  of 
a  suitable  and  proper  person,  being  a  candidate  for  the  niinistr}^, 
and  duly  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  English  language, 
as  an  Assistant  in  the  Divine  service  with  Mr.  Doll,  our  present 
Pastor,  whose  service  is  altogether  in  the  Dutch  language : 

"In  pursuance  of  such  resolution,  we  beg  leave  to  trouble 
you  for  your  aid  in  procuring  for  our  Congregation  such  suitable 
person  as  you  may  deem  proper  for  the  promotion  of  the  Gos- 
pel among  us,  a  young  man,  well  educated,  of  good  abilities, 
and  professing  sound  doctrine,  according  to  the  order  and  the 
fundamental  principles  of  our  Keformed  Church  ;  and  such  as 
you  may  think  proper  to  address  to  us,  will  meet  with  welcome 
reception  in  our  congregation." 

This  communication  was  signed  in  behalf  of  the  Consistory  by 


IDEAL  OF  HAMILTON'S  BIOGRAPHY.  311 

George  J.  L.  Doll,  V.  D.  M.,  and  Solomon  Hasbrouck,  Senior 
Elder. 

It  thus  happened  that  a  candidate  for  tlie  ministry  from  the 
New  York  Seminary  visited  the  place,  and  gave,  it  is  believed, 
universal  satisfaction  ;  yet  on  account  of  more  urgent  calls  else- 
where, he  could  not  settle  among  them.  Subsequently,  how- 
ever, the  place  was  supplied  by  another  licentiate  from  the 
Associate  Reformed  Church. 

Applications  of  a  similar  nature  were  also  at  different  times 
made  to  Dr.  Mason  by  other  churches  in  the  Dutch  connexion. 

Some  time  after  the  death  of  General  Hamilton,  Dr.  Mason 
was  induced  to  undertake  a  Biography  of  him.  In  search  of 
materials,  he  had  occasion  from  time  to  time  to  write  letters  to 
gentlemen  who  were  supposed  to  be  in  possession  of  important 
facts.  In  some  of  these  he  gives  expression  to  his  ideas  of 
what  such  a  work  should  be.  An  instance  we  have  at  this 
period  in  a  letter  to  one  of  Hamilton's  early  frends : — 

DR.  M.  TO   DR.    STEVENS. 

New  York,  February  27,  180S. 

Dear  Sir:  Although  I  have  not  the  honour  of  being  known 
to  you  personally,  yet  the  subject  of  this  letter  will,  I  hope,  be 
a  sufficient  apology  for  obtruding  myself  upon  your  notice. 

By  the  desire  of  his  widow,  and  with  the  approbation  of  his 
most  intimate  friends,,!  have  ventured  upon  the  arduous  task 
of  writing  the  life  of  General  Ilamilton.  I  feel  what  boldness 
there  is  in  such  an  attempt;  and  am  not  insensible  to  the  im- 
mense disparity  between  the  powers  of  that  transcendent  man 
and  those  of  his  biographer.  That  the  work  shall  be  what 
every  one  who  had  the  happiness  of  his  acquaintance  would 
wish  it  to  be,  a  perfect  portrait  of  himself,  I  am  far  from  the 
vanity  of  supposing.  Nor  can  it  be  rationally  expected,  as  it 
would  require  a  second  Hamilton.  But  whatever  can  be  ac- 
complished by  a  diligent  investigation  of  the  facts,  by  a 
scrupulous  regard  to  truth,  by  a  most  affectionate  dcvotcdness 
to  his  memory,  and  by  an  endeavour,  according  to  the  talent 
employed,  to  infuse  into  the  picture  so  much  resemblance  to 
the  original  as  shall  render  it  not  altogether  unworthy  the  ac- 
ceptance of  his  friends,  I  do  not  feel  it  ostentatious  to  promise. 


312  MATERIALS  DESIRED. 

All  the  papers. left  behind  him  are  now  in  my  possession.  I 
liave  assurances  of  whatever  aid  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  his 
most  confidential  friends  to  afford.  Mr.  King,  Mr.  Gr.  Morris, 
Mr.  Walcott,  who  succeeded  him  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
have  had  the  goodness  to  interest  themselves  in  procuring  me 
every  facility  within  their  reach.  A  principal  defect  is  found 
in  the  materials  for  the  history  of  liis  early  life.  Understanding 
that  you  have  probably  the  most  copious  and  authentic  informa- 
tion, in  relation  to  this  period,  I  have  taken  the  liberty,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Mrs.  Hamilton,  to  solicit  a  communication  of  such 
facts  as  may  appear  to  you  deserving  of  a  place  in  the  contem- 
plated work.  It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  make  a  request  which 
cannot  be  acceded  to  without  some  trouble.  If  compliance 
shall  be  compatible  with  your  convenience  and  3^our  sense  of 
propriety,  I  shall  esteem  it  a  particular  favour. 

Desirous  of  discharging  the  duties  of  my  engagement  in  a 
manner  as  satisfactory  and  honourable  as  possible,  I  have  re- 
solved and  stipulated  that  no  restriction  shall  be  laid  upon  me 
with  respect  to  time.  The  nonum premaiur  in  annum,  is  a  pre- 
cept not  to  be  dispensed  with  by  works  which  are  to  have 
either  great  utility,  or  permanent  reputation.  Frequent  re- 
vision, and  much  of  the  limce  lahor  are  due,  not  more  to  the 
importance  of  the  undertaking,  than  to  the  memory  of  our 
friend.  It  is  therefore  intended  and  agreed,  that  the  public 
shall  know  nothing  of  the  work  during  the  course  of  prepara- 
tion. Prudential  considerations,  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
enumerate,  require  that  it  be  mentioned  to  those  only  (and 
they  are  few)  who  can  render  substantial  aid.  On  this  ground, 
I  trust  you  will  not  deem  it  improper  to  view  my  letter  as 
confidential.     With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honour  to  be.  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.M.  MASON. 

By  his  friend,  Mr.  Bethune,  who  was  about  to  sail  for  Eng- 
land, Dr.  Mason  enjoyed  an  excellent  opportunity  for  writing 
to  his  British  friends.  He  accordingly  prepared  a  large  packet 
of  letters,  some  of  which  furnish  links  in  the  chain  of  events, 
and  all  of  which  are  illustrative  of  his  character.  Parts  of  a 
few  of  them  are  here  presented  : — 


DEATH  OF  HIS  AUNT.  313 

DR.  M.  TO   MK.  MASON,  EDINBURGH. 

New  York,  8th  April,  1808. 

My  Dear  Uncle:  An  incidental  paragraph  in  a  letter  of 
Nov.  12tli  from  Mr.  Ilall,  and  received  the  other  day,  is  the 
only  account  of  the  aflliction  wherewith  God  has  been  pleased 
to  visit  you  in  the  deatii  of  my  aunt.  I  was  struck,  but  not 
surprised.  Uer  frame  has  been  wearing  away  for  years  ;  and 
nothing  has  happened  but  what,  I  suppose,  you  had  long 
though  silently  anticipated.  Yet  the  severing  of  the  heart- 
strings is  sore  ;  and  the  pangs  incurable  nearly  in  proportion  to 
the  length  of  time  which  has  strengthened  all  the  habits  of  affec- 
tion. I  mingle  my  tears  with  yours.  We  mourn,  but  not  as 
those  who  have  no  hope.  It  is  our  Father  in  heaven  who 
smites;  and  his  chastisements  are  administered  with  rods  taken 
from  the  tree  of  life.  AVould  I  were  near  you  in  your  bereaved 
state.  But  why?  He  "  whose  loving-kindness  is  better  than 
life,"  is  your  "  refuge  and  strength,  your  very  present  help  in 
trouble."  Praised  be  his  name,  that  his  chastenings  are  not 
curses !  Praised  be  his  name,  that  he  calls  us  to  drink  of  no 
cup  which  his  grace  does  not,  sooner  or  later,  make  a  "  cup  of 
blessing."  Our  hope  is  to  be  with  him  ere  long,  to  behold  his 
glory.  Our  duty  noiu  is  to  honour  him  in  active  and  passive 
services,  as  he  shall  appoint.  Yet  a  little  while,  (is  it  not  a 
little  while?)  and  he  shall  wipe  all  tears  from  our  eyes.  Our 
souls  believe  this.  Do  they  not,  my  uncle  ?  Even  we,  worth- 
less and  unholy  as  we  are,  shall  be  permitted,  through  the 
righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour,  to  see  his  face,  and  re- 
joice in  his  love !  ,Well,  then,  we  will  "  look  at  the  things 
which  are  not  seen  ;"  and  there  is  no  reason  why  we  may  not 
weep  as  well  as  sing  Hallelujah  ! 

Since  I  wrote  you,  I  have  been  called  to  know  a  feeling  to 
which  ni}'  heart  had  before  been  a  stranger.  On  the  15th  Oct. 
Mrs,  M.  gave  birth  to  a  sixth  son  and  eighth  child  ;  a  babe  to 
all  appearance  as  hearty  and  vigorous  as  any  she  had  borne. 
But  on  the  next  morning,  without  alarm  or  notice,  his  little 
spirit  stole  away,  and  was  an  hour  in  Abraham's  bosom  before 
we  missed  it,  though  we  were  looking  at  him.  My  dear  wife  met 
the  shock  as  a  Christian  mother  ought  to  meet  it.     In  conse- 


314  A  PROPOSED  JOURNEY. 

quence  of  a  cold  taken  afterwards,  her  health  has  been  much 
impaired.  She  was  twelve  weeks  confined  to  the  house  ;  and 
though  at  present  so  far  recovered  as  to  go  about  and  walk  out, 
is  very  weak  and  much  reduced  in  flesh.  Some  complaint 
hangs  about  her,  for  which,  the  physician  says,  her  best  remedy 
is  a  long  journey.  If  I  can  prevail  with  her,  I  shall  take  her 
on  a  tour  through  the  Eastern  States. 

Our  Seminary  flourishes.  We  have  fourteen  students,  seve- 
ral of  whom,  if  spared,  promise  to  become  men  of  distinc- 
tion. Next  season  the  prospect  is  that  we  shall  have  a  consid. 
arable  increase.  Where  the  means  are  to  come  from,  I  cannot 
tell.  He  will  provide,  who  provides  the  youth.  My  way  is 
dark;  but  I  know  who  "brings  light  out  of  darkness  ;"  levels 
mountains  and  fills  up  valleys.  It  is  all  as  it  should  be.  He, 
whom  we  serve,  "sees  the  end  from  the  beginning."  We  may 
safely  follow  an  omniscient  and  omnipotent  leader. 

Give  my  tenderest  love  to  Christie.  I  hope  it  is  her  first 
concern  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness; 
and  her  second  to  soothe  your  solitude  with  all  the  sweetness 
and  promptitude  of  filial  duty.  Oh,  that  I  could  be  with  you 
once  more,  and  speak  face  to  face.  I  long  with  greater  earnest- 
ness than  ever  after  my  friends  in  Britain,  and  especially  after 
your  family.  Have  you  abandoned  all  thoughts  of  visiting  the 
New  World  ?  When  good  understanding  between  our  govern- 
ments shall  return,  and  I  hope  it  is  near,  come  all  of  you : 
father,  and  sons  and  daughters.  But  I  dream — yet  I  cherish 
the  fond  expectation  of  seeing  you  on  your  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, or  on  mine. 


DR.  M.  TO   MRS.  SMART. 

New  York,  9th  April,  1808. 

My  Dear  Margaret:  I  am  in  your  debt;  but  I  write  with 
that  mixture  of  feeling  which  naturally  arises  out  of  the  change 
which  has  happened  in  your  circumstances  since  my  last.  By 
a  casual  sentence,  I  was  informed  that  it  has  pleased  God 
to  remove  your  mother.  She  has  gone,  we  have  every  rea- 
son to  hope,  to  that  better  world  where  "the  inhabitant  shall 
not  say,  I  am  sick;  because  the  people  that  dwell  therein  shall 
be  forgiven  their  iniquity."     My  pleasing  idea  of  once  more 


THE  BEST  CONSOLATION.  315 

meeting  her  in  this  life  has  vanished ;  but  I  entertain  the  more 
pleasing  idea  of  joining  her  in  that  life  which  shall  have  no  fel- 
lowship with  death.  We  are  conversant,  my  cousin,  with  noth- 
ing earthly  that  is  not  marked  as  a  source  of  our  pain  sooner 
or  later.  Friends  are  dear,  their  intercourse  sweet,  their  image 
the  parent  of  many  tender  associations;  but  the  heart  is  alive 
to  woe,  and  in  proportion  to  the  exquisiteness  of  its  joys,  is  also 
the  keenness  of  its  anguish  and  the  bitterness  of  its  grief.  What 
should  we  do,  my  Margaret,  without  that  "hope  which  maketh 
not  ashamed?"  It  is  faith  in  "the  Resurrection  and  the  Life," 
that  triumphs  over  the  "  last  enemy,"  and  goes  down  to  the 
grave  as  but  the  dark  entrance  into  the  region  of  everlasting 
rest.  No  other  eye  than  the  eye  of  a  believer  in  Jesus,  can  see 
the  portal  of  the  world  of  light  at  the  further  end  of  the  passage ; 
and  the  gloom  of  nature  is  midnight  melting  away  into  the  day- 
break of  Heaven.  I  would  not  take  a  thousand  thrones  for  the 
blessedness  of  that  man  who,  ransomed  from  the  earth  by  the 
"blood  of  sprinkling,"  is  enabled,  at  the  very  moment  when 
"his  heart  and  his  flesh  fail,"  to  set  his  victorious  foot  upon  the 
"old  serpent,"  and  step  from  off  his  "bruised  head"  into  the 
Paradise  of  God.  This,  my  dear  cousin,  is  a  glory  worth  pos- 
sessing. The  title  to  it  is  purchased  by  our  Lord  Jesus,  and 
offered  to  our  acceptance  in  the  Gospel  of  His  grace.  Is  it  yours, 
my  dear  Margaret?  I  would  ask  my  own  soul  the  same  ques- 
tion ;  and  may  He,  who  gives  and  forgives  like  God,  put  His 
spirit  within  us,  that  we  may  say  in  truth,  "  Yea,  Lord,  thou 
knowest  all  things — thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee." 

You  probably  have  not  heard  that  last  f\xll  our  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther sent  us  another  lovely  boy,  with  permission  just  to  look  at 
him,  and  then  ordered  him  away.  The  angels  whispered  in  his 
ear,  "  Come  up  hither."  He  remained  in  our  sinful  world  only 
twentj'-three  hours;  and  was  off  to  the  company  of  those  little 
ones  whose  angels  behold  the  face  of  God  in  Heaven.  My  dear 
Nancy,  you  may  suppose,  was  much  affected,  but  she  has  not 
her  consolation  to  seek  when  the  occasion  for  resorting  to  it 
comes.  She  suffered  no  personal  injury  from  the  shock,  but 
took  cold  about  three  weeks  aftervvards,  the  consequences  of 
which  remain  with  her  till  this  day.     It  is  my  intention,  if  the 


316  SYMPATHY  IN  SORROW   AND   IN   JOY. 

Lord  will,  to  try  the  effect  of  a  journey  as  far  as  Boston,  when 
the  weather  shall  be  settled. 


DR.  M.  TO  MRS.  A.  GIBSON. 

New  .York,  9th  April,  1808. 

My  Dear  Agnes  :  I  have  postponed,  from  time  to  time,  the 
expression  by  letter,  of  the  interest  my  heart  takes  in  your 
happiness,  and  my  congratulation  on  your  marriao;e  in  a  man- 
ner, which,  your  father  has  informed  me,  bids  fair  to  cherish 
those  sweet  affections,  and  to  perpetuate  that  solid,  but  noise- 
less comfort  to  which  you  had  been  accustomed  under  his  roof. 
These  things  might  now  be  out  of  season,  even  if  I  were  not 
under  the  sad  necessity  of  connecting  with  the  idea  of  my 
favourite  Aggie's  having  become  a  joyful  wife,  the  mournful 
one  of  her  having  lost  a  devoted  mother.  It  must  be  so,  my 
cousin.  We  walk  through  a  world  of  death;  and  souls,  knit 
by  the  strongest  ties  of  endearment,  must  suffer  the  pang  of 
separation.  But  I  hope  that  you  are  enabled  to  view  this  dis- 
pensation of  Providence  in  a  proper  light ;  that  your  spirit  is 
neither  indifferent  nor  rebellious ;  that  instead  of  murmurine: 
at  your  privation,  you  have  learned  to  vent  your  full  bosom  in 
gratitude  to  your  kind  and  merciful  God,  for  granting  you  the 
instruction,  example,  solicitude,  prayers,  and  inspection  of  both 
parents,  till  he  confided  you  to  the  protection  of  an  amiable  and 
worthy  husband.  His  choicest  blessings  rest  upon  you  both ! 
May  He  dwell  in  your  house  !  May  He  dwell  in  your  hearts! 
May  He  put  His  name  and  His  glory  there,  enabling  you  to 
live  together  as  "heirs  of  the  grace  of  life,  that  your  prayers  be 
not  hindered."  I  say  your  2^^'(^yers ;  for  I  cannot  admit  the 
thought  that  my  Aggie's  house  is  a  prayerless  house.  Na}'-,  I 
trust,  now  that  she  is  become  the  mistress  of  a  family,  and  per- 
haps the  mother  of  a  little  immortal,  she  will  "  know  the  God 
of  her  father,  and  serve  him  with  a  perfect  heart  and  with  a 
willing  mind."  Our  chief  business  here,  my  cousin,  is  to  be 
"ready  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ."  They  only  have  a  right 
to  be  cheerful,  "over  whom  the  second  death  shall  have  no 
power."  With  what  sweet  serenity,  with  what  activity  of 
effort,  with  what  buoyancy  of  heart,  can  we  go  about  our 


THE  MINISTRY — FELLOWSHIP   WITH   CHRIST.  317 

duties,  when  we  are  well  ascertained,  that  "whether  we  live, 
we  live  unto  the  Lord ;  or  whether  we  die,  we  die  to  the  Lord ; 
so  that  living  or  dying,  we  are  the  Lord's."  Less  than  this  I 
do  not  desire  for  you  ;  more,  I  cannot. 

For  domestic  particulars,  I  refer  you,  at  present,  to  your 
father  and  Margaret.  Assure  your  husband  of  my  kindest 
wishes. 


DR.  M.  TO  DR.  WAUGH,  LONDON. 

New  York,  9th  April,  1808. 
My  Dear  Friend  :  With  delight  and  gratitude  I  have  heard 
of  your  recovery  from  your  indisposition,  and  your  restoration 
to  the  best  work  which  can  employ  our  souls  and  bodies  in  this 
sinful  world.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  Jesus  that  he  was  a  minister 
of  the  Gospel !  Blessed  be  his  name,  that  He  does  not  let  us 
know  beforehand  what  we  are  to  encounter  in  preaching  his 
cross,  and  promoting  his  cause  !  and  blessed  be  it,  that  He  never 
forsakes  us  in  the  most  difficult  and  discouraging  circumstances. 
I  do  not  think  the  Apostle  Paul  was  ever  more  eloquent,  more 
elevated,  more  perfectly  above  the  trials  of  his  station,  the  malice 
of  men  and  the  assaults  of  hell,  than  when  he  penned  that  glowing 
paragraph  to  his  Corinthian  friends,  2  Cor.  vi.  1 — 12.  It  makes 
one's  heart  almost  to  leap  out  of  its  casement,  to  believe  that  we 
shall  one  day  see  that  hero  of  the  truth  and  talk  with  him  about 
all  his  services  and  sacrifices  for  a  Master  whose  "  loving-kind- 
ness is  better  than  life."  What  a  series  of  afflictions,  and  joys, 
and  contests,  and  victories  !  What  a  chequered  history  from 
his  adventure  of  that  basket  at  Damascus,  to  the  display  of  his 
chain  before  Felix,  and  his  majestic  deportment  with  Nero  ! 
But  there  is  one  thing  much  better  even  in  this  life,  than  hear- 
ing the  incident  of  the  basket  from  his  own  lips  in  heaven.  It 
is  the  presence,  consolation,  support,  of  that  same  Saviour  who 
made  Paul  what  he  was.  0  !  my  friend,  what  is  this  ? — that  He 
should  put  His  treasure  into  our  crazy  vessels,  and  honour  our 
clay  to  be  the  vehicle  of  His  truth.  His  grace.  His  eternal  salva- 
tion !  Blessed  be  His  name  forever !  Let  no  effort  of  ours  be 
deemed  misapplied  in  showing  forth  His  praise! 

Your  brother  in  the  Gospel, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


318        HEBREW  AND  GREEK  BOOKS  NEEDED. 

DR.  M.  TO  REV.  DR.  A.  HUNTER,  EDINBURGH. 

New  York,  April  9th,  1808. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  two 
very  kind  letters  from  you  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  an  appear- 
ance of  negligence  on  my  part.  I  am  sure  that  the  want  of  any 
condolence  on  the  affliction  wherewith  the  Lord  has  been  pleased 
to  visit  you,  has  been  abundantly  compensated,  not  merely  by 
the  presence  of  Christian  friends,  but  by  the  presence  of  him 
who  is  better  than  all  Christian  friends.  In  a  dying  world,  it 
is  proper  that  we  should  not  only  see  death  making  his  ravages 
but  feel  his  interference  with  our  own  deliojhts.  Blessed  be 
God  for  the  assurance,  that  death  himself  is  mortal  ;  and  that 
the  hour  approaches  when  they  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  rise  to 
a  beauty,  a  felicity,  and  a  glory,  over  which  pain  and  sorrow 
and  dissolution  shall  have  no  control.  Such  is  your  expecta- 
tion in  regard  to  your  departed  wife.  Such  is  the  believer's 
expectation  with  regard  to  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  sincerity.  Let  us  cherish  the  holy  hope,  and  come  daily  and 
boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace  for  mercy  to  act  under  its  influence. 

It  will  afford  you  real  pleasure  to  hear  that  the  experiment 
of  our  Theological  Seminary  succeeds  beyond  the  ill-bodings  o^ 
the  timid,  and  the  expectation  of  even  its  resolute  friends- 
Great  good  will  spring,  I  trust,  from  this  institution.  The  ex" 
ample,  as  you  wished,  has  provoked  others;  and  there  is  now 
a  very  vigorous  attempt  carrying  on  near  Boston  for  rearing  up 
an  evangelical  and  able  ministry,  to  carry  the  Gospel  throughout 
the  land,  and  especially  where  the  Socinian  leaven  has  leav- 
ened a  large  part  of  the  lump. 

Have  you  or  jour  friends  any  Hebrew  or  Greek  Lexicons  to 
spare  ?  These  would  be  an  invaluable  acquisition  to  us ;  and 
I  think  not  improperly  bestowed.  In  the  midst  of  your  great 
libraries  and  old  establishments,  you  have  no  conception  of  our 
difficulties.  Large  fortunes  can  do  anything  anywhere.  But 
we  have  no  large  fortunes ;  and  our  pecuniary  means  must  be 
husbanded  with  the  most  rigid  economy,  or  we  shall  not  be 
able  to  take  care  of  our  youth. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  grateful  affection. 

Your  friend  and  pupil, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


A  SCRIPTURAL  REVIVAL.  319 

DR.  M.  TO  REV.  G.  BURDER,  LONDON. 

New  York,  April  11th,  1808. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  The  departure  of  my  excellent  Christian 
friend,  Mr.  Divie  Bethune,  for  England,  gives  me  a  favourable 
opportunity  of  discharging  the  obligation  imposed  on  me  by 
your  kind  letter  of  Jan.  26,  1807. 

Facts  which  have  occurred  since  I  wrote  you,  have  abundant- 
ly justified  the  caution  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  observe  respecting 
our  Western  revivals.  Judicious  and  fervently  pious  ministers 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  now 
lament  the  premature  zeal  with  which  they  gave  their  sanction 
to  the  current  opinion  on  this  subject.  The  deductions  are  so 
many  and  so  weighty  from  the  mass  of  good  supposed  to  have 
been  effected,  that  the  remainder  is  comparatively  small ;  and, 
like  a  heap  of  snow  under  a  warm  sun,  is  hourly  diminishing. 
I  feel,  however,  much  i-eal  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  state,  that  in 
several  places  in  New  Jersey  and  New  England  the  power  of 
the  Gospel  has  lately  been  displayed  in  a  remarkable  manner  ; 
and  hitherto  the  phenomena  are  so  Scriptural  and  unexception- 
able, that  I  am  very  sanguine  in  my  expectation  that  the  result 
will  embolden  us  to  say  to  all  the  world.  This  is  the  finger  of  God. 

By  Mr.  Bethune,  your  Society  will  receive  a  communication 
and  some  curiosities  from  that  amiable  and  devoted  man,  Mr. 
Morrison.  I  take  it  for  granted,  that  Messrs.  Gordon  and  Lee 
will  inform  you  of  their  own  circumstances. 

A  letter  written  to  me  from  Otahcite,  dated  3d  Nov.,  1805, 
signed  "  John  Jefferson,  for  the  Society,"  and  lately  received, 
contains  the  following  paragraph,  which  much  surprised  me : 
'•"We  have  not  had  the  happiness  of  hearing  from  our  connex- 
ions in  England  for  some  years  past,  though  we  have -had  sun- 
dry opportunities  of  transmitting  journals  and  letters  to  them." 
Another  letter  from  Mr.  Youl,  dated  Aug,  8,  1806,  and  re- 
ceived by  the  same  conveyance,  repeats  the  same  thing.  Mr. 
Youl  says,  that  their  "  last  letters  from  London  are  dated  so 
far  back  as  1800."  They  also  mention,  though  in  a  very  mod- 
est manner,  that  "their  wants  are  greatly  multiplied.;"  but  spe- 
cify no  particulars. 


320  INDWELLING  OF   THE   SPIRIT. 


DR.  M.  TO  MR.  HARDCASTLE,  LONDON. 

New  York,  12th  April,  1808. 

My  Dear  Friend  :  I  Lave  heard  nothing  of  you,  except- 
ing incidentally,  this  long  time;  and  I  am  not  so  great  a 
proficient  in  the  art  of  self-denial  as  to  forbear  inquiring,  by 
our  friend  Bethune,  after  you  and  your  good  family,  and  my 
Christian  acquaintance.  May  I  not  say  to  you,  as  the  beloved 
disciple  did  to  the  hospitable  Gaius,  "  I  desire  that  thou  may- 
est  prosper  and  be  in  health,  even  as  thy  soul  prospereth?" 
Blessed  days  for  a  believer,  when  the  flourishing  of  his  graces, 
furnishes  a  standard  for  the  prosperity  of  his  outer  man.  A  frail 
body  with  such  a  soul,  may  well  be  endured ;  for  the  light  of 
life  that  dwells  within  it,  will  continually  send  out  its  consola- 
tions to  proclaim  that  the  Schekinah  is  there.  "  What!  know 
ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?"  A 
strange  word,  but  a  true  one.  Yes,  we  know  it,  Heavenly 
Father ;  but  we  have  reason  to  be  humbled  to  the  lowest  dust, 
and  we  fly  to  thy  fatherly  forgiveness,  when  we  think  that  we 
are  so  very  apt  to  forget  it.  It  is  infinitely  good  for  us  that  we 
have  a  divine  teacher.  The  "  moral  suasion"  of  the  Arminians, 
is  a  "  smoke  in  my  nostrils."  Without  better  instruction  and 
more  potent  influence,  the  age  of  Methuselah  would  be  too 
short  to  learn  the  alphabet  of  that  "  Word  which  makcth  wise 
unto  salvation."  The  whole  tribe  of  them  who  will  not  be  in- 
debted to  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  for  all  that  they  know,  or  hope  to 
know  ;  taste,  or  hope  to  taste ;  of  the  Lord's  own  goodness  in 
this  world  or  the  next — the  whole  of  them  put  together,  have 
not  as  much  to  say  for  the  Redeemer,  nor  so  lucid  and  convinc- 
ing a  testimony  to  bear  to  his  name,  as  a  babe  of  nme  years 
old,  in  my  congregation,  who  is  dying  of  a  dropsy,  and  is  going 
away  to  heaven,  with  the  intelligence  and  the  tongue  of  a  little 
seraph.  "I  shall  see  his  face,"  said  the  infant  believer  to  me> 
and  I  use  Aer  ottJn  words,  "I  shall  sing  his  praises;  I  shall  be 
free  from  sin."  "I  have  no  will  of  my  own,  but  if  it  be  his 
will,  I  had  rather  go  and  be  with  him." — "I  have  no  fear  of 
death." — "I  wish  to  die,  and  that  he  would  take  me  to  him- 
self."— Oh,  he  is  a  most  gracious  God !  a  most  blessed  God !  a 
most  holy  God !    a  most  glorious  God." — Then  after   a  little 


PULPIT  ELOQUENCE.  321 

pause,  being  nearly  exhausted,  she  closed  her  eyes  and  said  to 
herself,  very  distinctly,  though  in  a  low'breath,  "  Our  gracious 
God ;  our  blessed  God  !"  All  this  and  much  more,  of  ^vhich  a 
particular  account  will  be  preserved  and  published. 

Our  Theological  Seminary  goes  on  under  promising  circum- 
stances. Our  British  friends  will  have  no  cause,  I  tr  ist,  for 
repenting  of  their  patronage.  We  could  not  have  commenced 
without  it.  And  if  in  the  magnitude  of  their  exertions  for  the 
Ecdeemer's  cause,  there  is  an  odd  guinea  or  two  to  spare,  the 
boon  will  be  very  grateful ;  for  we  have  more  godly  youth,  and 
youth  of  talent,  pressing  forward,  than  we  are  well  able  to  pro- 
vide for,  while  at  their  studies.  We  have  planted  ;  you  have 
watered ;  and  God  has  given  the  increase. 


Still  more  extensive  was  his  American  correspondence,  A 
few,  selected  from  many  of  his  letters  written  at  this  period, 
show  us  the  man.     Most' of  them  explain  themselves. 

DR.    M.    TO    MR.    J.    NORRIS. 

New  York,  May  10,  1808. 

Dear  Sir:  Mr.  Emerson's  letter  on  the  subject  of  pulpit 
eloquence  deeply  interests  me.  I  want  no  argument  to  con- 
vince me  of  the  unhappy  eftects  of  reading  sermons.  I  have 
seen  enough  to  remove  all  doubts,  if  any  doubt  could  exist  in 
the  mind  of  one  who  is  at  the  pains  of  analysing  the  mechanism 
of  human  feeling,  or  of  considering  the  natural  fitness  of  means 
to  ends.  I  do  not  know  such  a  publication  as  I  think  he 
wishes  to  see.  Claude's  Essay  on  the  Composition  of  a  Sermon 
is,  perhaps,  the  best  work  for  the  literary  management  of  a 
discourse.  There  are  some  fine  remarks  in  Fenelon's  little  book 
of  Dialogues  on  Eloquence.  The  modern  performance  which 
breathes  most  of  the  orator,  at  least  of  thbse  which  have  flillen 
in  my  way,  is  the  Abb6  Maury's  "  Principles  of  Eloquence.'' 
I  think  a  public  speaker  can  learn  much  from  that  Jesuit.  But 
all  these,  I  suppose,  are  familiar  to  Mr.  Emerson.  If,  however, 
he  wish  to  possess  any  of  them,  I  shall  find  a  particular 
pleasure  in  procuring  and  forwarding  them.  Of  people  who 
write  about  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit,  there  is  no  lack  ;  but 
no  drier  or  duller  productions  are  to  be  found  than  most  of 
these,  which  very  learnedly  show  how  "an  apostle  did  7iot 
21 


322  OUR  CONNEXION"  WITH  PROVIDENCE. 

preach."  A  cart  load  of  them  would  be  dear  at  a  groat.  I  do 
not  know  that  the  addition  of  Dr.  Blair's  Lectures  on  that  point 
would  make  me  raise  my  bid  to  sixpence ;  for  assuredly  if  a 
man  be  permitted  to  consult  his  feelings  (and  if  he  do  not,  far 
from  him  be  the  thought  of  meddling  with  eloquence!)  he 
must  say  of  that  sam.e  Dr.  Blair,  what  a  lively  Frenchman  said 
of  his  small  philosopher  of  a  countryman,  Condorcet,  that  "  he 
writes  luith  opium  07i  leaves  of  lead  P^  You  see,  Sir,  that  although 
a  stranger,  I  impose  no  restraint  upon  my  pen.  I  am  in  the 
habit,  more  to  the  peace  of  my  conscience,  than  to  my  con- 
venience in  other  respects,  of  speaking  as  I  think  ;  and  I  have 
no  fellowship  with  criticisms  that  affect  to  have  secrets.  I 
shall  take  the  first  leisure  to  write  to  Mr.  Emerson. 


It  will  be  recollected  that  in  some  of  his  preceding  letters, 
Dr.  Mason  spake  of  his  intention  to  take  a  tour  through  New 
England,  for  the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Mason's  health.  It  was  so 
ordered  by  Providence  that  this  tour  was  not  made  till  the 
latter  part  of  summer.  A  note  to  Mr.  King,  in  relation  to 
some  letters  which  had  been  promised  for  the  occasion,  shows 
the  graceful  courtesy  with  which  he  was  accustomed  to  unite 
Christian  thoughts  with  the  expression  of  his  feelings  to  friends 
of  every  class.  Mr.  King's  son  had  accidentally  received  a 
serious  wound  in  his  forehead,  from  a  pitchfork. 

TO   RUFUS    KING,    Esq. 

New  York,  27th  July,  1808. 

Dear  Sir  :  Will  it  be  convenient  to  send  the  letters  which 
you  were  so  good  as  to  promise  me  for  the  eastward  ?  A  parcel 
directed  to  me,  I  suppose,  would  come  safe  by  the  Jamaica 
stage.  After  to-morrow,  I  know  not  that  I  shall  wait  for  any- 
thing but  your  letters.  I  should  have  called  to  see  you,  had 
my  occupations  permitted. 

The  interest  you  take  in  your  friends  is  the  principle  by 
which,  I  hope,  you  will  estimate  the  pain  with  which  I  heard 
of  the  alarming  accident  to  Frederick,  and  my  joy  in  the  expec- 
tation that  your  fears  may  be  very  happily  disappointed.  It  is 
a  beneficent  dispensation,  by  which  God  draws  back  his  pro- 


A  GRATIFYING   RESPONSE.  323 

tecting  hand  for  one  moment,  and  stretches  it  out  again  the 
next — a  strong  and  gracious  appeal  to  tlie  heart,  confirming  all 
the  dictates  of  the  understanding  and  the  doctrines  of  his  word, 
concerning  our  entire  dependence  upon  him,  and  the  watchful- 
ness of  his  fostering  care.  The  peril  and  the  preservation  of 
your  boy  are  worth  a  thousand  abstract  syllogisms  to  establish, 
not  only  the  truth,  but  the  consolations  of  a  particular  provi- 
dence. Who  that  is  not  insane  would  sacrifice,  for  all  the  sub- 
stitutes of  a  freezing  philosophy,  the  sweet  repose  of  the  heart 
upon  this  assurance,  "  As  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so 
Jehovah  pitieth  them  that  fear  him." 

I  have  grievously  erred,  my  dear  Sir,  if  observations  like 
these  shall  appear  to  you  impertinent.  My  apology  must  be, 
that  I  know  not  how  more  forcibly  to  express  my  personal  at- 
tachment, than  by  my  wishes  and  prayers  that  the  bosom  of  a 
most  valued  friend  may  be  the  abode  of  the  faith,  the  purity, 
and  the  peace  of  the  Gospel. 

I  shall  be  much  gratified  to  hear  that  Mrs.  King  has  suffered 
no  serious  inconvenience  from  the  shock  she  must  necessarily 
have  felt  from  the  injury  to  her  son.  Make  my  best  regards 
acceptable  to  her,  and  to  the  rest  of  your  family  ;  and  believe 
me  to  be,  my  dear  Sir, 

With  esteem  and  aflfection. 

Yours  truly, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Dr.  Mason  had  not  "erred"  in  the  hope  expressed  at  the  close 
of  his  note ;  as  may  be  seen  in  the  answer  which  he  received  the 
next  day,  wherein  it  is  evident  that  the  feelings  of  the  father 
were  not  lost  in  the  character  of  a  great  man : — 

TO  THE   REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Jamaica,  L.  I.,  July  28,  1808. 

Dear  Sir  :  I  have  received  your  friendly  letter  of  yesterday, 
and  both  Mrs.  King  and  myself  are  heartily  thankful  to  you  for 
the  kind  wishes  and  consoling  reflections  that  it  contains. 

Though  the  poor  child's  wound  was  extremely  hazardous, 
and  the  danger  is  not  yet  passed,  he  has,  thanks  to  God  !  suf- 
fered very  little  pain  ;  and  as  no  unfavourable  symptom  has 
hitherto  occurred,  we  are  encouraged  to  hope  that  it  may  be 


324  EFFECTS  OF  HIS  VISIT  TO  BOSTON. 

the  merciful  will  of  the  Almighty,  that  his  dear  life  shall  be 
spared  to  us. 

The  enclosed  letters  are  all  I  have  been  able  to  prepare,  being 
called  off  by  company.  If  you  think  it  probable  that  you  shall 
go  to  Portsmouth,  I  will  send  you  some  other  letters  for  that 
place — as  also  one  or  two  for  Salem. 

With  sincere  regards,  I  remain,  dear  Sir, 

Your  faithful  and  obedient, 

RUFUS  KING. 

After  his  return  from  the  East,  Dr.  ^lason  received  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Morse,  dated  Charlestown,  October  4th,  1808,  saying: 
"The  impression  you  have  left  in  this  region,  is  highly  favour- 
able to  the  cause  of  religious  truth.  I  hear  no  wounding 
remarks.  We  had  a  delightful  day  for  opening  our  Theologi- 
cal Institution.  Every  thing  proceeded  as  we  wished.  The 
effect  on  opposers  is  powerful.  Dr.  Dwight's  sermon  was 
highly  acceptable.  In  Boston  they  are  ready  to  proceed  with 
the  new  meeting  house." 

The  last  reference  is  doubtless  to  the  Park  Street  Church, 
which  was  viewed  by  the  whole  Christian  community  as  a 
very  important  step  in  resuscitating  evangelical  piety  in  that 
metropolis, 

A  few  weeks  later.  Dr.  Morse  again  wrote,  urging  Dr.  Mason 
to  review  and  answer  a  pamphlet  which  had  just  appeared  in 
opposition  to  the  Andover  Seminary,  and  to  the  cause  of 
evangelical  truth  generally.  Dr.  Mason  has  been  very  much 
misunderstood  by  those  who  have  represented  him  as  ever 
eager  for  a  contest,  and  especially  as  ready,  uncalled  for,  to  put 
himself  forward  as  a  vaunting  champion  against  every  heresy 
which  he  might  descry  in  any  part  of  the  land.  It  is  true  that 
he  regarded  Unitarianism,  denying  the  divinity  and  atonement 
of  Christ,  and  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  man's  salvation,  as  a 
fatal  error ;  and  that  he  never  failed  on  fit  occasions  to  raise  his 
warning  voice  against  it ;  but  it  was  always  in  the  spirit  of 
grief,  and  with  the  desire  to  magnify  the  Saviour,  and  not  him- 
self. In  the  present  instance,  even  if  the  error  had  been  nearer 
his  own  door,  his  hands  were  too  full  of  other  things  to  admit 
of  turning  them  to  the  task  for  which  he  was  importuned. 


IMPRESSIONS  AT  NEW   HAVEN.  325 

During  the  excursion  referred  to,  he  also  visited  New  Haven. 
This  gave  occasion  for  the  following  letter  from  a  brother  in 
the  Gospel,  who  was  then  a  pastor  in  that  town,  and  afterwards 
became  a  very  distinguished  Professor  and  Author  in  the 
Seminary  at  Andover: — 

TO  THE^REV.  DR.   MASON 

New  Uaven,  October  17,  1808. 

Eev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  Your  departure  from  us  was  so  sudden, 
after  your  sermon,  that  we  had  no  time  to  ask  many  questions 
which  we  wished  to  ask,  I  have  been  importuned  unceasingly 
to  tell  when  your  sermon  is  to  be  published  ;  and  all  the 
answer  I  can  give  is.  It  will  be  published  when  the  volume  is 
published.  This  gives  no  satisfaction ;  and  there  is  no  way  but 
I  must  write  and  know  (if  possible)  the  day  and  hour  it  will 
come  from  the  press.  If  this  is  a  question  which  you  can  and 
will  answer,  it  will  save  me  the  loss  of  several  hours  every 
week,  in  giving  opinions  and  making  guesses. 

Never  did  a  sermon  make  such  an  impression  here.  Even 
our  Connecticut  Bishop's  son,  who  heard  it,  declared  he  never 
heard  such  a  sermon  before.  If  you  mean  to  publish  by  sub- 
scription, you  will  not  want  for  subscribers. 

The  advocates  of  prelacy  here  are  ivondrous  tvise.  They  have 
discovered  that  your  first  sermon  here  was  aimed  entirely  at 
their  church.  I  think  the  "Layman"  with  his  Jm  and /zera 
ought  to  be  placed  at  their  head. 

Yours,  with  affection  and  respect, 

MOSES  STUART. 

Inquiries  at  Boston  led  to  the  following  brief  but  pleasant 
correspondence : — 

TO  THE  REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Boston,  Oct.  19th,  1808. 
Sir  :  Miss  Cabot  has  transcribed  the  correspondence  concern- 
ing General  Hamilton's  military  appointment  and  Col.  Picker- 
ing's letter  relative  to  the  monument  proposed  to  be  erected  in 
honour  of  Washington.  The  whole,  including  one  extract  from 
Gen.  Knox,  make  twenty-six  letters ;  and  are  contained  in  a  packet 


326  A   PLEASANT  ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

which  Mr.  Quincj  is  so  good  as  to  take  with  him,  and  which 
he  will  deliver  to  you  on  his  arrival  at  New  York. 

They  have  been  carefully  collated  and  are  correct.  Permit 
me  to  hope  they  will  be  usefal  to  your  purpose,  and  that  we 
may  soon  see  what  is  so  much  desired. 

I  am.  Sir,  with  great  respect. 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

GEORGE  CABOT. 

TO  G.  CABOT,  Esq. 

New  York,  Oct.  30th,  1808. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  this  moment  favoured  with  your  very 
acceptable  note  of  the  19th  and  the  packet  to  which  it  refers. 
The  whole  arrived,  through  the  care  of  our  friend  Mr,  Quincy, 
"  in  good  order  and  well  conditioned."  My  best  thanks  are 
due  for  your  kind  attention  ;  and  I  beg  you  to  assure  Miss 
Cabot  that  I  feel  myself  not  a  little  flattered  and  obliged  by  the 
pains  she  has  taken  in  transcribing  the  manuscripts.  The 
honour  of  such  an  amanuensis  seldom  falls  to  the  lot  of  un 
2muvre  homme  de  lettres.  Had  I  ever  worn  the  bays  of  Apollo, 
I  should  feel  it  a  poetical  duty  to  return  my  homage  in  an  ode. 
But  as  I  long 'ago  found  the  muse  of  poesy  very  coy  to  my 
courtship.  Miss  C,  must  e'en  be  content  with  my  thanksgiving 
in  honest  prose.  I  shall  feel  an  additional  stimulus  from  your 
wishes  to  be  "  forthcoming"  soon  ;  but  whether  sooner  or  later, 
I  shall  be  unalterably  yours,  &c. 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
1809. 

VINDICATION,  THE  MAQAZINE,  ASSISTANT,  KTC. 

Letter  to  A.  Van  Vechten,  Esq. — Letter  from  the  Rev.  Moses  Stuart — Letter 
from  Dr.  James  E.  B.  Findley — Letter  from  Rev.  Moses  Stuart — Letter  to  Rev. 
John  Lind,  Assistant  in  the  Seminary — Letter  to  Rev.  R.  Morrison — Letter 
to  Rev.  John  McJimsey — Settlement  at  Albany. 

The  following  letter  serves  to  show  the  unreasonable  manner 
in  which  Dr.  M.  was  often  charged  with  political  offences  of 
which  he  was  entirely  innocent,  as  well  as  the  playfulness  with 
which  he  could  treat  them: — 

TO   A.  VAN  VECHTEN,  Esq. 

New  York,  March  15,  1809. 

My  Dear  Sir:  My  friend  Mr.  Romeyn  has  just  now  told 
me- that  there  is  great  displeasure  among  your  Honours  of  the 
Legislature  at  the  petition  and  remonstrance  of  the  New  York 
Missionary  Society,  relative  to  their  charter ;  and  that  there  is 
new  wrath  upon  my  unlucky  head  as  the  author  of  the  said 
indecorous  application.  It  is  a  bad  thing  for  a  man  to  get  his 
name  up  for  being  an  offender  against  the  majesty  of  the  peo- 
ple. Knowing  my  federal  iniquities,  and  feeling  no  symptoms 
of  repentance,  I  have  but  little  to  say  on  that  head.  However, 
as  I  love  to  put  the  saddle  on  the  right  horse,  I  think  proper  to 
inform  you,  that  I  liave  had  no  hand  whatever  in  drawing  up, 
or  supporting  that  paper.  Whether  I  was  correct  in  my  judg- 
ment or  not,  I  am  too  little  of  a  civilian  to  be  confident;  but 
so  it  was,  that,  in  opposition  even  to  legal  opinion,  I  contended 
for  the  safety  of  the  Society  under  their  charter,  modelled  as 
your  Honours  thought  fit  to  model  it ;  and  that  upon  these  two 
grounds  : — 


328  iNJsrocENT  of  the  charge. 

1.  No  law  can  contravene  the  Constitution  of  the  State;  but 
the  Constitution  secures  absolutely  the  religious  liberty  of  the 
citizen  ;  one  branch  of  which  is  the  formation  of  religious  asso- 
ciations, or  their  elections  when  formed ;  and  that  any  body  has, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  a  perfect  civil  right  to  propose  any  tests  of 
admission  not  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  State ;  and  that  all 
religious  incorporations,  and  the  whole  incorporating  law  for 
particular  congregations,  are  nothing  but  applications  of  this 
great  constitutional  principle. 

2.  The  preamble  of  a  law  must  regulate  the  construction  of 
its  provisions ;  it  being  absurd  and  insufferable  to  imagine  that 
the  means  adoped  by  the  public  wisdom  are  destructive  of  the 
ends  which  they  were  designed  to  promote. 

Therefore  no  interpretation  of  the  act  incorporating  the  New 
York  Missionary  Society  which  makes  it  infringe  the  Constitu- 
tion, or  contradict  its  preamble,  can  be  sound ;  but  all  its  expres- 
sions must  be  explained,  if  possible,  in  consistency  with  both. 

In  the  progress  of  the  business,  however,  I  was  overruled. 
The  greatest  discontent  and  most  unceremonious  criticisms 
came  from  the  Democratic  members.  The  offensive  paper  is 
from  a  Democratic  pen — it  is  said,  the  pen  of  Dr.  Wilson.  It  is 
said,  for  I  was  never  at  the  pains  to  inquire  who  wrote  it,  as  I 
did  not  and  do  not  care  a  Jersey  copper  about  the  matter.  Only 
having  read  it  when  it  was  sent  to  me  for  my  name,  /  refused 
my  signature,  because  I  could  not,  as  an  honest  man,  adopt  its 
sentiments.  If  you  shall  be  at  the  trouble  to  look,  you  will  see 
that  my  name  is  not  there. 

I  am,  notwithstanding,  sorry  that  offence  has  been  taken. 
The  paper  did  not  strike  me,  on  a  cursory  perusal,  as  so  obnox- 
ious ;  and  I  am  confident  that  no  member  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors either  intended  the  least  disrespect,  or  dreamed  that  they 
should  have  such  an  indecorum  imputed  to  them.  I  speak 
merely  from  my  private  conviction ;  for  I  was  not  at  the  Board 
when  the  petition  was  agreed  upon ;  nor  have  I  till  this  hour 
exchanged  a  syllable  with  one  of  them  on  the  subject. 

Although  I  do  not  feel  any  dreadful  alarm  to  have  the  bant- 
ling fathered  upon  me  by  my  good  Democratic  fHends,  yet,  as  I 
do  not  conceive  myself  bound  in  duty  to  be  a  scapegoat  for  the 
trespasses  ol patriotic  sinners,  I  send  you  this  bit  of  intelligence 


THE   MAGAZINE  VALUED.  329 

with  permission  to  apply  it  to  any  purpose  which  your  discre- 
tion shall  think  proper  to  connect  with  the  name  of  your  friend 
and  humble  servant, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Certain  irregularities,  which  had  occurred  respecting  the 
emission  of  the  Christian's  Magazine,  occasioned  some  of  the  re- 
marks of  the  letter  which  follows : — 

TO  THE  EEV.  DR.  MASON. 

New  Haven,  March  7th,  1809. 

Eev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  Your  favour  by  Mr.  Lefl&ngwell  I  have 
received,  and  am  glad  to  find  that  you  rely  so  much  upon  my 
'^  meekness J^  Be  assured,  I  should  have  been  happy  to  have  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  you  sooner,  because  I  should  always  be 
happy  to  receive  one  at  any  time ;  but  knowing  the  multiplicit}- 
of  your  concerns,  I  have  never  imputed  your  delay  to  any  want 
of  regard. 

With  respect  to  your  Magazine,  I  can  assure  you,  if  your 
work  makes  slow,  it  will  make  sure  progress  in  Connecticut. 
Where  it  is  known,  it  is  duly  valued;  and  its  fame  is  diffusing 
itself  through  our  commonwealth.  I  wish,  with  all  my  heart, 
I  could  tell  you  10,000  copies  for  this  State. 

The  disappointment  which  subscribers  have  experienced  as 
to  the  time  of  publication,  has  occasioned  no  small  complaint. 
They  say,  "  If  the  work  were  an  indifferent  thing,  we  should  care 
but  little,  but  we  cannot  bear  to  be  tantalized  with  what  we 
value."  They  have  no  means  of  estimating  your  difficulties,  and 
feel  almost  ready  to  impute  it  to  procrastination.  Nobody 
complains  of  genius  or  faithfulness  in  the  execution.  The  time 
is  all  the  grievance. 

Enough  of  this.  For  myself,  come  sooner  or  later,  your 
Magazine  is  always  welcome.  I  hope  you  will  not  abandon  it- 
and  I  beg  of  you,  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  religion,  not  to 
abandon  it,  unless  it  becomes  absolutely  necessary  on  pecuniary 
grounds.  It  would  be  a  loss  to  our  churches  and  to  the  cause 
of  Christ. 

May  I  venture  to  solicit,  that  you  will  cause  our  complement 
of  Magazines  to  be  sent  on  to  New  Haven,  as  soon  as  they  are 


3S0  THANKS   FROM  A   SON   OF  S.   FINLEY. 

ready  ?     I  take  no  rest,  when  I  hear  that  they  are  out,  before  I 
have  hold  of  them. 

I  am,  dear  Sir, 

With  much  respect  and  esteem, 
Yours  sincerely, 

MOSES  STUART. 


Another  testimony  in  favour  of  the  Magazine,  though 
prompted  in  part  by  personal  feelings,  must  have  afforded  no 
small  gratification  to  the  Editor — a  gratification  which  no 
doubt  will  in  some  sort  be  shared  by  the  Christian  readers  of 
the  tract  to  which  it  refers : — 

TO   THE    EEV.   DR.    MASON. 

Beacfokt,  S.  C,  Sept.   Tth,  1809. 

Eev.  Sir  :  Though  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  you,  yet  I  am  not  a  stranger  to  your  writ- 
ings. The  Christian's  Magazine  in  particular,  which  has  lately 
fallen  into  my  hands,  has  been  read  with  much  edification  and 
satisfaction.  Indeed,  I  feel  myself  urged,  by  one  circumstance 
especially,  to  address  these  few  lines  to  you. 

The  writer  of  this  letter  is  the  youngest  and  only  surviving 
child  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Finley,  formerly  President  of 
Princeton  College,  whose  dying  experience  you  have  so  strik- 
ingly contrasted  with  the  death  of  David  Hume.  The  former 
died  the  death  of  the  righteous.  I  was  very  young  at  the 
time,  but  I  can  never  forget  the  impressive  manner  in  which 
he  laid  his  dying  hands  upon  my  head,  blessed  me,  and  com- 
mitted me  to  the  care  of  my  Heavenly  Father.  As  to  the 
latter,  there  was  something  so  puerile,  so  unbecoming  even  a 
philosopher,  in  the  manner  of  his  meeting  the  approach  of 
death,  that  it  has  given  me  a  low  opinion  of  the  power  of  infi- 
del principles  to  support  a  man  in  that  trying  hour.  I  have 
read  somewhere  of  a  ship  lost  in  a  storm  with  many  persons  on 
board :  for  a  long  time  the  lamentations  were  great,  when  all 
of  a  sudden,  as  the  ship  was  sinking,  a  general  burst  of  laughter 
was  heard  till  the  water  covered  them  out  of  sight.  Is  there 
not  something  like  the  gaiety  of  despair  ? 

Be  pleased,  Sir,  to  accept  my  warmest  thanks  for  this  tribute 


IMPROVED  VERSION   OF  THE  TESTAMENT.  331 

of  respect  to  the  memory  of  a  parent,  whose  good  name  and 
worth  your  Magazine  will  be  the  means  of  transmitting  to 
posterity.  I  should  have  been  ungrateful  indeed,  to  have  re- 
mained silent  and  indifferent,  whilst  you  were — to  use  classical 
terms — "  ornans  memoriam  patris  mei."  I  really  know  not  in 
what  manner  to  express  my  feelings ;  and  I  beg  you  to  accept 
this  scrap  rather  as  a  token  of  what  I  wish  to  do,  than  what 
can  be  accomplished  by  a  letter. 

Among  other  things  in  your  Magazine,  I  have  read  with 
great  satisfaction  the  Essay  upon  the  Organization  and  Trans- 
mission of  the  Visible  Church,  and  have  often  wished  that  it 
were  published  in  a  separate  form.  Whether  this  may  have 
been  already  suggested  to  you  I  know  not,  but  trust  you  will 
take  the  hint  in  good  part,  and  consider  whether  it  may  not  be 
done. 

I  am,  Eev.  Sir, 

With  great  respect, 

JAMES  E.  B.  FINLEY. 

There  is  much  further  evidence  that  Dr.  Mason  was  impor- 
tuned by  the  friends  of  orthodoxy,  in  New  England,  to  aid  them 
in  the  defence  of  God's  truth  against  the  assaults  which,  in 
various  ways,  had  powerfully  commenced  in  that  quarter.  The 
following  letter  expressed  the  desires  of  many : — 

TO  THE  REV.   DR.    MASON. 

New  H.iVEN,  June  15th,  1809. 

Eev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  You  have  doubtless  heard  of,  or  seen, 
the  "  Improved  Version''^  of  the  New  Testament,  lately  repub- 
lished in  Boston.  The  basis  of  it  was  laid  by  the  late  Gilbert 
Wakefield,  who  was  only  Celsus  resuscitated.  It  purports 
to  be  completed  by  a  Society  of  "  Learned  Men,"  in  London, 
and  excepting  some  of  its  naked  infidelity  and  blasphemy,  is 
calculated  to  promote  the  Socinian  heresy,  by  an  ostentation  of 
learning  and  moderation. 

That  the  book  should  be  reviewed,  and  reviewed  so  as  to  ex- 
hibit 3,11  its  deformity  and  infidelity  to  the  public^  is  necessary 
to  the  interests  of  true  religion.  The  eyes  of  the  religious  pub- 
lic, at  Boston  and  in  this  quarter,  are  turned  towards  you.     I 


832  IMPORTUNED  FOR  A  REVIEW. 

have  been  pressed  by  our  friends  at  Andover,  Charlestown,  and 
other  places,  to  write  to  you  a  request  from  us  all,  that  you 
would  not  say — Nay.  If  you  have  made  your  final  conclusion  at 
this  place,  then  we  must  shut  our  mouths ;  if  not,  please  to 
read  the  next  page. 

We  are  aware  that  we  shall  be  met  at  the  threshold  with  ob- 
jections, but  we  are  not  in  the  least  daunted.  Eelying  on  the 
merits  of  our  cause,  we  are  prepared  to  prove  that  it  is  reason- 
able— right — and  must  prevail. 

Having  read  the  "  Messiah's  Throne,"  we  are  satisfied  of 
your  zeal  and  ability  to  defend  the  glorious  doctrine  of  Christ's 
divinity.  Dear  Sir,  it  is  the  cause  of  Jesus — his  dear  name  has 
been  traduced  and  vilified — the  Spirit  of  God  has  been  insulted, 
by  turning  his  eternal  truth  to  falsehood ;  and  the  finger  of  the 
churches  points  to  you  as  their  advocate  on  this  occasion. 
We  must  press  it — and  we  must  take  the  liberty  to  say  we 
cannot — may  we  add — will  not  have  No^  for  an  answer. 

We  should  not  say  thus,  if  we  did  not  feel  compelled  by  a 
sense  of  duty.  Be  so  kind  as  to  let  me  know  immediately,  if 
possible,  whether  you  will  undertake.  Fifteen  or  twenty  lead- 
ing verses  will  be  all  that  you  will  be  obliged  to  consider,  to 
annihilate  the  thing.  If  you  have  not  a  copy,  let  me  know  it 
and  you  shall  immediately  have  one. 

The  editors  of  the  Panoplist  are  waiting  with  anxiety  for 
your  answer.     Yours,  with  affection  and  esteem, 

MOSES   STUART. 

Considering  the  weight  of  his  pastoral  charge  and  his  man}' 
other  duties,  from  none  of  which  he  was  disposed  to  spare  him- 
self further  than  necessity  compelled  him,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Dr.  Mason  began  to  desire  aid  in  the  labours  of  the  Semi- 
nary. Of  this  we  have  an  intimation  in  a  letter  addressed  to  one 
of  his  first  students,  at  that  time  happily  and  usefully  settled  in 
Greencastle,  Pennsylvania : — 

TO  THE  REV.  JOHN  LIND. 

New  York,  15th  March,  1809. 

My  Dear  Lind:  Our  friend  Mr.  Fullerton  having  just  called 
on  me  with  information  that  he  expects  to  see  you  in  a  few  days, 
has  refreshed  my  memory  with  the  ungracious  recollection  that 


SACRIFICES  AND   LABOURS.  333 

I  have  "left  undone  the  thing  that  I  ought  to  have  done."  Expe- 
rience, that  hard  but  impartial  preceptor,  has  taught  me  what  I 
have  sometimes  told  you,  but  what  I  suppose  you,  like  your 
neighbours,  will  hardly  learn  a  tsecond  hand,  that  if  we  expect 
to  find  time  for  doing  anything,  we  must  mahe  it.  And  so,  this 
being  the  most  busy  day  of  the  seven,  (Wednesday)  I  sit  down 
to  write  at  leisure  because  I  resolved  to  do  so  ;  and  I  resolved  to 
do  so,  because  I  felt  too  much  like  an  epistolary  sinner,  to  be 
any  longer  comfortable  in  my  misdeeds,  or  rather  in  my  no- 
deeds. 

You  did  not  tell  me  whether  No.  3,  Vol.  I.  of  the  Magazine 
ever  reached  you.  The  weight  of  that  work  is  considerable — 
especially  on  the  purse.  Were  my  friends  acquainted  with  the 
drudgery  I  have  endured  in  consequence  of  the  mismanagement 
of  others,  they  would  be  very  gentle  in  their  censures  on  ac- 
count of  past  irregularities.  I  hope  hereafter  to  be  more  punc- 
tual. 

.  The  Seminary  continues  to  prosper ;  but  unless  God  shall 
please  to  send  us  aid  in  some  way  not  now  obvious,  there  will 
be  a  heavy  deficit  at  the  close  of  the  Session.  But,  I  trust  it  is 
a  plant  which  His  own  right  hand  hath  planted  ;  and  that  if  we 
be  diligent  in  the  use  of  means,  He  will  not  be  slack  in  shedding 
down  His  blessing.  For  myself,  I  am  often  in  a  great  strait. 
Much  as  some  may  suppose  my  vanity  to  be  gratified  by  my 
present  station,  honourable  indeed  and  worthy  of  the  highest 
talent,  and  personal  as  they  may  suspect  and  have  intimated 
my  views  to  be,  I  should  hail,  with  hearty  welcome,  the  day 
when  I  could  with  propriety  resign  my  trust  into  other  hands. 
I  complain  not  of  pecuniary  sacrifices  which  have  always  accom- 
panied my  public  duty,  and  will  forever  accompany  the  public 
duty  of  any  man  who  does  not  make  money  his  universal  stand- 
ard, I  complain  not  of  the  labour  which  my  duty  imposes  so 
long  as  I  am  able  to  support  it — but  in  deed  and  in  truth,  the 
work  so  rises  in  its  awfulness  as  I  contemplate  it ;  and  grows  so 
arduous  as  I  proceed  ;  and  so  magnifies  its  responsibility,  as  I 
look  to  its  results,  that  I  feel  it  requires,  if  not  much  greater 
capacity,  yet  certainly  much  greater  information  than  I  am  con- 
scious of  possessing.  Just  now  the  actual  labour  overwhelms 
me.     I  spend  with  the  classes  between  two  and  three  hours  a 


334  ASSISTANT  APPOINTED. 

day ;  and  thej  occupy  my  private  study  three  or  four  more.  I 
distinctly  perceive  myself  breaking  under  the  pressure:  and 
though  my  robust  constitution,  and  healthful  appearance,  give 
no  external  indication  of  the  real  state  of  my  frame,  I  am  not 
without  apprehension  that  it  will  fail  suddenly.  Some  assist- 
ance, I  say  it  inter  nos,  must  be  provided  without  delay.  The 
continuance  of  my  exertions  will  bring  me  to  old  age  at  forty-five. 
Taking  all  things  together,  I  am  sometimes  so  cast  down  and 
despondent,  as  to  almost  say  with  the  repining  prophet:  "And 
now,  0  Lord,  take,  I  pray  thee,  my  life  from  me,  for  it  is  better 
for  me  to  die  than  to  live." — But  this  is  my  infirmity — there  is 
nothing  for  us,  my  dear  Lind,  in  such  circumstances  but  to  cry 
with  another  and  better-minded  prophet :  "  When  my  heart  is 
overwhelmed,  lead  me  to  the  EocK  that  is  higher  than  I."  He 
lives ;  the  Lord  lives — blessed  be  our  Eock ! 

You  have  been  indisposed.'  "My  son,  despise  not  thou  the 
chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked  of 
Him." — Father  Dobbin,  I  hear  is  almost  home.  Of  his  safe  arri- 
val, there  can  be  no  question.  The  Lord  grant  a  serene  and 
cheerful  passage  to  his  " meek  and  quiet  spirit!"  Our  love  is 
to  3^ou  and  your  dear  consort,  and  mother.  "  The  good  will  of 
Him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush"  be  with  you,  and  keep  you,  and 
comfort  you  all  to  the  end  !  Then,  then  is  the  consummation. 
Grace  be  with  you  !  Believe  that  you  have  a  deep  and  tender 
interest  in  the  heart  of 

J.  M.  MASON. 

In  accordance  with  such  wishes  of  Dr.  Mason,  on  his  motion, 
the  General  Synod,  in  May,  1809,  passed  the  following  preamble 
and  resolution  : — 

"  Whereas,  the  duties  of  the  Professor  are  found  to  be  too 
laborious  and  oppressive  for  one  individual. 

"  The  Synod  direct  that  an  Assistant  be  appointed  to  aid  the 
Professor  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties ;  and  that  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  such  Assistant  to  instruct  the  students  in  the  origi- 
nal languages  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  according  to  the  plan 
hitherto  pursued  in  the  Seminary ;  and  in  Scriptural  Geography, 
Chronology,  and  History." 

Thereupon,   the   Eev.  James  M.  Mathews  was    appointed. 


MR.  erskine's  arrangement.  335 

Though  Dr.  Mathews  afterwards  connected  himself  with  another 
denomination,  he  contined  to  hold  his  office  in  the  Seminary- 
till  1818,  when  he  resigned. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Kev.  Eobert  Proudfit,  then  of  Broadalbin, 
and  afterwards  Professor  in  Union  College,  Dr.  Mason  pays  a 
just  tribute  to  the  worth  and  hopefulness  of  a  student  whom 
the  former  had  sent  from  his  church  to  the  Seminary : — 

"  Your  student,  Mr.  John  Campbell,  is  indeed  a  promising 
youth.  My  very  bowels  are  refreshed  with  the  appearance  of 
such  coming  forward  to  the  ministry.  It  is  a  gratification  to 
labour  for  such  pupils.  He  is  well  worth  all  the  care  and  ex- 
pense the  church  is  likely  to  be  at  for  him.  With  an  ordinary 
blessing  he  will  abundantly  recompense  her.'' 

These  hopes  were  not  disappointed.  Mr.  Campbell  .completed 
his  course  with  credit  to  himself,  and  was  soon  after  settled  over 
the  Church  of  Caledonia,  N.  ,Y.,  where  he  was  greatly  beloved, 
and  had  every  prospect  of  increasing  usefulness.  But  in  a  few 
years  an  insidious  disease  preyed  upon  his  lungs,  and  prema- 
turely cut  him  off  from  his  labours  and  prospects  on  earth. 

The  relations  of  our  government  with  that  of  England, 
were  a  matter  of  moment  to  the  missionary  operations  of  both 
countries.  Accordingly  the  tidings  contained  in  the  following 
letter,  must  have  been  as  joyfully  received  as  they  were  joy- 
fully written : — 

DR.  M.  TO  THE  REV.  R.  MORRISON,  CANTON. 

New  York,  18th  May,  1809. 
My  dear  Sir  :  I  embrace  the  first  opportunity  of  acknow- 
ledging your  kind  letters  of  Oct.  21,  1807,  and  May  11th,  1808. 
The  rigour  of  the  embargo  on  all  American  vessels  from  Decem- 
ber, 1807,  till  last  month,  cut  off,  almost  altogether,  our  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  mankind.  It  will  give  you  great 
pleasure  to  hear  that  our  differences  with  Great  Britain  have 
been  amicably,  unexpectedly,  and  satisfactorily  adjusted :  so 
that  the  wonted  intercourse  has  become  again  lawful.  The 
British  Minister,  Mr.  Erskine,  presented  a  note  to  our  govern- 
ment on  the  17th  April  making  overtures  for  conciliation ; 
which  was  answered  the  same  day  in  a  friendly  manner.  It 
was  followed  by  a  second  note  on  the  18th,  which  was  answered 


336  CHRISTIAN   UNION — REVIVALS. 

in  like  manner  on  the  same  day.  On  the  19th,  two  final  notes 
were  exchanged  tendering  and  accepting  reparation  in  the  affair 
of  the  Chesapeake,  &c.  On  that  same  day  the  new  President, 
Mr.  Madison,  issued  his  proclamation  revoking  the  non-inter- 
course act  towards  Great  Britain  only ;  it  remaining  in  force 
toward  France. 

The  hand  of  the  Lord  our  God  is  in  this  thing ;  and  I  hope 
it  bodes  well  for  His  church  in  different  quarters  of  the  world. 

Such  a  missionary  as  you  desire,  would  doubtless  be  an  im- 
portant acquisition  to  the  station  at  Canton  :  but  I  fear  it  is 
without  prospect  of  success  that  the  inquiry  Avould  be  made. 
Our  own  demands  for  missionaries  are  so  much  greater  than 
our  supply,  that  a  proposal  to  send  one  from  America  to  China 
would  be  treated  as  chimerical. 

It  will  please  you  to  hear  that  our  friends  Gordon  and  Lee, 
with  their  wives,  and  their  little  opes,  are  at  last  proceeding  to 
their  destined  scene  of  labours.  Mr.  Lee  has  been  for  some  time 
back  preaching  in  Philadelphia  and  its  vicinity ;  Mr.  Gordon 
in  this  city.  He  parted  from  us  on  Monday  last  the  15th,  for 
Philadelphia,  where  he  takes  shipping.  The  affections  and 
sympathy  and  prayers  of  a  large  number  of  those  who  know 
what  it  is  to  pray,  went  with  him.  The  separation  was  tender. 
Why  should  it  not  be?  But  it  is  a  blessed  thought!  "Sep- 
arated and  not  divided !"  "Would  to  God  that  His  people  were 
less  divided  where  they  are  not  separated !  I  feel  grieved,  and 
ashamed,  and  humbled  my  dear  Sir,  that  the  sweet  counsel 
which  Christians  might  and  should  take  together,  is  so 
broken  up  by  things  which  do  not  affect  any  one  of  their  Chris- 
tian interests.  My  hands  have  been  tied  with  a  very  strong 
cord  from  using  that  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  me 
free.  But  we  must  "endure  all  things  for  the  elect's  sake,  that 
they  may  be  saved."  I  hope  matters  are  drawing  towards  a 
more  comfortable  issue.  Evangelical  men  and  churches  among 
us  do  not  look  at  each  other  so  coldly  as  they  did.  God  has 
done  "great  things  for  us''  in  this  land,  "whereof  we  are  glad." 
The  blessing  has  been  poured  out  upon  various  parts  of  these 
States ;  and  at  length,  the  dew  has  begun  to  descend  on  our 
fleece  in  this  city.  The  change  for  the  better  among  dilllirent 
denominations  witliin  the  last  eighteen  months,  is  too  obvious 


A  CALL   FROM  ALBANY.  337 

not  to  be  noticed,  and  its  character  too  scriptural  to  leave 
doubt.  We  have,  therefore,  blessed  be  His  name,  a  little  reviv- 
ing in  our  bondage.  But  I  believe  it  is  all  we  shall  get;  and 
that  it  is  a  preparative  for  sorrows  at  hand.  I  pray  the  keeper 
of  Israel  to  preserve,  comfort,  and  prosper  you,  in  the  difficult 
and  honourable  effort  to  "speak  peace  to  the  heathen." 


The  care  v/hich  he  continued  to  feel  for  the  church  at  Albany, 
and  his  particular  regard  for  the  minister  whom  they  had 
called,  occasioned  the  two  notes  which  follow: — 

DR.  M.  TO   THE    REV.   JOHN  MoJIMSEY. 

New  York,  3d  October,  1809. 

My  Dear  Brother  :  Before  this  reaches  you,  you  will  pro- 
bably have  heard  the  result  of  the  Albany  business.  Lest, 
however,  you  should  not,  I  state  for  your  information,  that  a 
call  was  moderated  on  Monday  of  last  week,  the  25th  Sept. 
and  was  made  out  unanimously  for  yourself.  You  must  there- 
fore be  prepared  to  meet  it  at  the  approaching  Session  of  our 
Presbytery.  This  is  an  event  which  will  put  both  your  faith 
and  3'our  feelings  to  the  test.  But  an  ingenuous  spirit,  such  as 
I  know  3'ours  to  be  ;  and  a  conscience  void  of  offence,  such  as 
I  am  persuaded  you  have  endeavoured  to  keep  your's,  in  this, 
not  less  than  in  other  matters,  have  nothing  to  fear.  "  The 
meek  He  will  guide  in  Judgment,  the  meek  he  will  show  His 
way."  This  is  one  of  those  peculiar  seasons  of  7iced,  in  which 
you  are  to  go  (and  blessed  be  his  name  for  the  privilege),  "with 
boldness  to  His  throne  of  grace,  to  obtain  mercy  and  find  grace 
to  help."  Advice  of  a  decisive  sort,  I  can  give  none  in  the 
present  stage  of  the  business.  The  providence  deserves  serious 
consideration.  But  the  ultimate  opinion  which  must  rest  on 
public  reasons,  and  on  private  ones  no  further  than  as  they  are 
subservient  to  the  other,  cannot  be  settled  without  a  fair  com- 
parison of  all  circumstances.  Our  Master,  whose  we  are,  and 
whom  we  serve,  will  not  withdraw  His  guidance  from  our 
honest  efforts  to  do  what  shall  be  most  for  the  honour  of  His 
name. 

22 


338  FRATERNAL   COUNSEL. 

How  I  shall  be  situated  on  the  Lord's  day  subsequent  to  the 
Presbytery,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  of  my  readiness  to  minister  to 
your  comfort  at  all  times,  and  especially  in  difficult  times,  you 
have  no  cause  to  doubt.  Were  it  not  that  I  might  give  occa- 
sion to  suspicion,  I  would  go  to  your  house  first ;  but  as  matters 
are,  it  will  be  most  prudent  to  defer  our  interview  till  the  Pres- 
bytery. 


DR.  M.  TO  THE  REV.  J.  McJIMSEY. 

New  York,  4th  Dec,  1809. 

My  Dear  Friend  :  Yours  of  the  28th  ult.,  which  I  received 
this  day,  gave  me  heartfelt  satisfaction.  Your  having  had,  with 
your  family,  "  a  prosperous  journey  by  the  will  of  God,"  and 
the  affectionate  regard  shown  you  by  your  new  people,  I  would 
willingly  add  to  all  the  other  indications  that  your  translation 
has  been  acceptable  to  the  head  of  the  church,  and  will  be  owned 
of  him  for  her  benefit.  As  you  did  not  remove  to  Albany  for 
the  sake  of  inglorious  ease,  you  are  of  course  neither  depressed 
nor  disappointed  by  difficulties  at  the  very  outset.  Where  things 
have  been  so  long,  and  so  greatly  confused,  it  is  not  the  work 
of  a  day  even  for  talent,  integrity  and  industry,  to  put  them 
right.  I  should  see  no  solid  objection  to  your  immediately  pro- 
ceeding to  organize  your  Session,  were  it  not  for  the  circum- 
stance of  several  of  the  new-chosen  elders  having  declined.  As 
the  relation  between  you  and  the  congregation  in  Albany  is 
perfectly  settled,  as  a  matter  not  to  be  reversed  or  impeded, 
the  want  of  the  formal  admission  to  your  charge  should  not  for 
one  moment  be  weighed  against  its  substantial  interests.  The 
drawing  back,  however,  of  so  many  of  the  elders  elect,  entirely 
alters  the  case.  It  is  made,  by  that  fiict,  a  question  not  of  Pres- 
byterial  order,  but  o{  expedience  for  the  congregation.  There  is 
a  hand  of  Providence  in  it.  I  have  seen  such  things  before  ;  I 
have  seen  them  turn  out  very  profitably  for  the  church.  My 
advise,  therefore,  is  to  pause.  The  winter  will  bring  you  into 
an  acquaintance  with  your  flock,  which  will  enable  you  to  judge 
more  correctly  than  you  can  at  present.  Better  wait  than  have 
an  ill-assorted  Session — the  greatest  pest  of  a  sensible  and  faith- 
ful minister. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1810. 

COLUMBIA    COLLEQE. 

Report  of  a  Committee — Second  Report  of  the  eame — ConGdential  Letter  to  Mr. 
King — Letter  to  Mr.  Clinton — Letter  from  Mr.  Clinton. 

Dr.  Mason,  as  already  shown,  always  felt  a  deep  interestin  the 
literary  institutions  of  the  country,  and  in  the  promotion  of 
sound  scholarship  in  those  youth  who  were  favoured  with 
academical  privileges  and  honours.  As  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Columbia  College,  he  was  several  years  associated  with  Mr. 
Eufus  King  on  a  Committee  for  improving  both  the  discipline 
and  the  course  of  studies  in  that  institution.  On  the  6th  of 
Feb.,  1809,  they  presented  a  report  from  his  pen,  though  signed 
by  Mr.  King  as  chairman,  in  which  they  do  not  content  them- 
selves with  pointing  out  and  demonstrating  existing  errors 
and  defects,  but  propose  appropriate  remedies.  Particularly  do 
they  explode  the  whole  system  of  fmes,  which  had  exten- 
sively prevailed,  as  sadly  calculated  to  defeat  all  the  proper 
end  of  discipline,  and  they  recommend  a  system  based  on  the 
noble  principle  of  appealing  to  a  sense  of  character  in  the  youth 
who  are  at  once  to  be  governed,  and  to  be  trained  for  acting  a 
useful  and  manly  part  in  society.  They  also  recommend  at 
large  and  with  earnestness  a  higher  standard  of  attainment 
requisite  for  entering  college;  urge  the  necessity  of  adapting 
studies  to  the  age  and  degree  of  maturity  in  each  student; 
and  the  necessity  of  thoroughness  in  everything  that  is  under- 
taken. Our  limits  forbid  the  insertion  of  this  report ;  but 
it  deservedly  has  a  place  in  tlie  series  of  measures  by  which  the 
College  has  risen  to  its  present  eminence,  especially  in  the  de- 
partment of  Classical  Literature. 


34:0  IMPEOVEMENTS   IN   THE   INSTITUTION, 

The  report  referred  to  was  succeeded  hy  another  from  the 
same  source  on  the  27th  Feb.,  1810,  in  accordance  with  instruc- 
tions from  the  Board,  to  carry  out  and  reduce  to  a  practical 
shape  the  principles  of  the  former.  Part  of  this  second  report 
being  of  a  general  nature,  we  here  insert : — 

"It  appears  to  your  Committee  that  the  primary  principle  of 
all  sound  education,  viz.,  the  evolution  of  faculty  and  the  forma- 
tion of  habit,  although  often  neglected,  ought  to  be  so  thoroughly 
incorporated  in  the  college-system,  and  even  amalgamated 
with  its  very  elements,  as  to  render  progress  through  the 
classes  without  due  regard  to  it,  by  both  teacher  and  pupil, 
altogether  impracticable.  If  the  plan  be  so  constructed  as  to 
require  ability  and  diligence,  the  want  of  either  of  these  quali- 
fications in  the  teacher  will  betray  itself  in  the  embarrassment 
of  his  department ;  and  the  want  of  either  of  them  in  the  pupil 
will  be  discovered  by  his  habitual  failure  in  duties  which  a 
reasonable  share  of  both  would  have  fitted  him  to  perform. 

"  Your  Committee  cannot,  for  a  moment,  suppose  that  it  is 
the  intention  of  the  board  to  try  that  most  fruitless  and  mis- 
chievous experiment — the  experiment  of  educating  either  the 
naturally  stupid,  or  the  incurably  idle.  A  volume  could  not 
display  the  magnitude  of  the  injuries  inflicted  upon  letters, 
upon  religion,  upon  morals,  upon  social  prosperity,  under  every 
form,  through  the  protection  granted  to  incapacity  and  sloth, 
by  a  timid  indulgence  or  a  chimerical  hope.  It  is  therefore  in- 
dispensable that  the  public  should  see  and  youth  themselves 
feel,  that  future  students  must  both  have  faculties  to  cultivate, 
and  industry  to  labour  in  their  cultivation,  or  that  Columbia 
College  will  be  no  place  for  them. 

"With  a  sufficient  reserve  for  improvements  which  the  vigi- 
lance of  skilful  instructors  may  point  out  in  the  practical  de. 
tails,  your  Committee  think  that  there  ought  to  be  an  undcvi- 
ating  adherence  to  the  following  principles  and  their  general 
application. 

"1.  Exactness. — By  which  is  understood  the  learning  per- 
fectly whatever  is  professed  to  be  learned  at  all.  This  can 
never  be  attained  without  attention  and  patience — causing  the 
subject  to  pass  and  repass,  in  close  and  frequent  examination 


EXACTNESS  AND   PUNCTUALITY.  341 

till  it  become  familiar,  and  leave  an  indelible  impression  on  the 
mind.  The  exciting  such  a  habit  of  attention,  as  it  is  the  first 
duty,  so  it  is  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  the  most  important 
victory  of  an  able  teacher;  and  the  cardinal  secret  of  a  sound 
education.  To  produce  it,  he  must  insist  peremptorily  and  in- 
exorably upon  exactness.  His  pupils  will  shrink,  they  will  so- 
licit, they  will  complain;  they  may  feel  a  momentary  despon- 
dence ;  but  there  is  an  elasticity  in  youth  which  cannot  be  long 
depressed ;  and  a  generosity  which  the  firmness  of  authority, 
softened  by  a  well  adapted  soothing,  can  work  up  to  astonish- 
ing efforts.  This  observation  is  fully  verified  by  the  history  of 
the  great  schools  in  England,  where  accuracy  is  never  dispensed 
Avith.  The  contrary  course  terminates  in  the  worst  effects.  Let 
a  lad  "get  along,"  as  the  phrase  is,  "pretty  well" — let  his  ideas 
of  a  point,  or  his  acquaintance  with  a  subject  which  he  is  re- 
quired to  master,  be  only  general  and  confused — let  him  con- 
jecture where  he  should  be  certain;  let  his  preceptor  almost 
put  his  answer  into  his  mouth,  when  he  hardly  knows  which 
w^ay  to  guess — and  he  is  bribed  to  intellectual  sloth ;  the  season 
in  which  he  should  fix  habits  of  discrimination  as  well  as  of 
prompt  acquisition,  passes  b}' — and  though  he  bring  to  the 
college  good  native  powers,  he  will  leave  it  with  a  mind  inert 
and  unproductive.  Let  the  idea,  then,  of  a  medium  between 
scholarship  and  no  scholarship,  be  forever  banished.  Let  the 
ideas  of  doing  a  thing,  and  doing  it  well,  be  identified  in  the 
minds  of  both  professor  and  student;  and  let  the  doing  a  thing 
by  halves  be  equivalent  with  not  doing  it  at  all. 

"2.  PunctualiUj. — By  which  your  Committee  mean  that  the 
performance  of  all  exercises  should  be  limited  to  a  certain  time, 
and  then  be  rigorously  exacted.  The  teacher  will  of  course 
take  care  that  they  be  both  reasonable  and  sufficient.  Under 
these  conditions  nothing  but  a  physical  impossibility,  or  such  a 
liindrance  as  cannot  be  at  all  referred  to  indolence  or  evasion, 
should  excuse  for  non-performance.  Exactness  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected without  painful  labour;  labour  will  not  be  regular  and 
ardent  without  the  hard  pressure  of  necessity.  Let  it  be  ascer- 
tained that  there  is  no  escape;  that  the  thing  must  be  done,  and 
it   loill  be  done.     Such  an  urgency  upon  the  mind  disarms 


342  PROGRESSION — HABIT  OF   THINKING. 

temptations  to  trifling,  and  often  to  vice  ;  keeps  it  bent  on  the 
period  and  the  matter  of  duty  ;  throws  it  into  strong  action, 
and  perhaps,  which  is  still  better,  into  a  sort  of  agony.  Hence 
spring  the  finest,  the  most  magnificent  effusions  of  human  ge- 
nius. There  exists  no  more  fatal  enemy  to  diligence,  improve- 
ment, and  excellence,  than  the  persuasion  that  "there  is  time 
enough." 

"3.  Progression. — By  which  your  Committee  would  express 
a  gradation  of  exercises  from  easier  and  shorter  to  more  diffi- 
cult and  ample,  according  to  the  power  of  performance. 

"  During  the  whole  course  of  education,  the  youthful  facul- 
ties are  to  be  kept  upon  the  stretch.  As  they  develop  them- 
selves and  gain  strength,  they  are  to  be  employed  in  work 
demanding  severer  tension  and  more  dauntless  vigour.  As  in 
mathematical  science  every  preceding  proposition  is  an  instru- 
ment in  the  demonstration  of  those  which  follow ;  so  in  all  the 
branches  of  education,  everything  which,  before  being  learned, 
is  an  end^  becomes,  when  learned,  the"  means,  and  is  to  be  ap- 
plied, in  its  turn,  to  the  remoter  and  abstruser  investigations. 
On  no  account,  therefore,  ought  students  in  the  more  advanced 
classes,  to  spend  their  time  in  those  elementary  studies  which 
occupy  beginners.  It  is  the  impoverishment  of  intellect — it  is 
a  waste  of  life — it  never  can  be  necessary,  unless  the  necessity 
be  created  by  some  mismanagement  in  the  system. 

"  Id  conformity  with  these  general  principles,  it  is  the  con- 
viction of  your  Committee  that  the  hours  spent  by  the  classes 
with  the  professors  should  be  chiefly  devoted  to  examination. 
It  is  the  duty  of  a  professor  to  use  his  information,  not  so 
much  for  the  purpose  of  displaying  it  before  his  pupils,  as  to 
direct  and  assist  them  in  getting  information  for  themselves ; 
to  employ  his  sagacity  and  address  in  eliciting  their  faculties 
and  inuring  them  to  the  habit  of  thinldng.  The  experience  of 
different  countries  has  shown  that  regular  attendance  upon 
lectures  and  profound  admiration  of  the  lecturer,  are  perfectl}- 
compatible  with  ignorance,  with  laziness,  and  with  stupidity. 
If,  as  Dr.  Goldsmith  observes,  there  are  many  authors  who 
"  write  through  a  volume  without  thinking  through  a  page," 
there  are  also  innumerable  instances  of  youth  going  through  a 


THE  CLASSICS  AND  RHETORIC   ALLIED.  343 

four  years'  course,  and  as  it  is  absurdly  styled  "finishing  their 
education,"  without  having  their  powers  even  for  once  put 
fairly  to  the  test. 

"  In  acting  upon  the  plan  suggested  by  your  Committee,  the 
instructions  of  the  professors  should  be  adjusted  to  each  other, 
so  far  as  the  nature  of  their  respective  branches  shall  permit. 
This  can  be  done  to  great  extent  and  advantage  by  the  Profes- 
sor of  Ehetoric  and  Belles  Lettres,  and  the  Professor  of  Lan" 
guages.  The  classical,  which  are  the  principal  studies  in  both 
oar  own  and  the  learned  tongues,  are  natural  allies,  and  easily 
associated.  The  Professor  of  Languages  should  point  out,  elu- 
cidate, and  endeavour  to  make  his  pupils  understand,  those 
unrivalled  specimens  of  taste,  of  eloquence  and  of  wisdom, 
with  which  the  ancient  writers  abound ;  and  the  Professor  of 
Rhetoric  and  Belles  Lettres  should  refer,  for  examples,  to  those 
writers  particularly  which  are  studied  under  the  Professor  of 
Languages,  comparing  them  with  each  other,  with  the  best 
writers  in  our  own  language,  and  especially  with  the  inspired 
writings.  To  exemplify:  When  there  occurs  in  the  lesson  of 
the  day  a  splendid  description,  the  student  must  be  taught  to 
mark  the  selection  of  circumstances — the  order  of  arrange- 
ment— the  grouping  of  images — the  choice  of  words.  When 
there  occurs  a  specimen  of  fine  and  spirited  criticism,  as  in 
every  page  of  Longinus,  to  thoroughly  comprehend  his  sense, 
and  to  trace  the  correspondence  between  his  principles  and  his 
illustrations.  When  there  occurs  an  instance  of  able  disquisi- 
tion, as  in  the  orations  of  Demosthenes,  the  student  should  be 
obliged  not  only  to  translate  his  words,  but  to  analyze  his  argu- 
ment. The  same  principles,  properly  modified,  should  pervade 
the  whole  course. 

"  In  this  manner  we  shall  cultivate  faculty  :  and  our  college 
will  send  forth  taste,  eloquence,  strong  reasoning  powers ;  she 
will  pour  out  a  stream  of  matured  intellect  instead  of  trifling^ 
as  colleges  have  been  too  much  accustomed  to  do,  by  ringing 
the  changes  upon  the  alphabet  and  syllables  of  their  classical 
horn-book. 

"  Your  Committee  are  sensible,  that  this  method  is  not  cal- 
culated to  impart  immediate  eclat  to  the  professors ;  but  they 
are  equally  sensible  that  it  will  render  the  College  incompara- 


344  ALTERATION   OF  THE   CHARTER. 

bly  more  useful  than  she  has  ever  been  ;  and  that  it  will  event- 
ually shed  lustre  upon  both  those  who  teach  and  those  who 
learn. 

"  They  are  also  sensible  that  it  requires  no  ordinary  degree  of 
understanding,  of  dignity,  of  taste,  of  diligent  and  patient 
labour,  in  the  professors.  But  they  judge  also,  that  no  exer- 
tion is  too  arduous,  and  no  sacrifice  too  costly,  to  insure  the 
highest  display  of  these  professional  virtues." 

In  the  progress  of  the  measures  for  effecting  desired  improve- 
ments, it  proved  impossible  to  avoid  touching  upon  certain 
denominational  sensibilities.  Dr.  Mason,  however,  endeav- 
oured to  exclude  everything  that  might  have  a  sectarian  bear- 
ing. He  would  indeed  have  liked  "  a  course  of  lectures  on  the 
necessity,  truth  and  excellence  of  divine  revelation  ;"  but  at  the 
same  time  he  wished  it  securely  guarded  against  the  introduc- 
tion of  every  thing  in  which  Christians  of  all  denominations 
were  not  agreed.  During  the  pendency  of  these  measures  of 
improvement  he  had  occasion  to  write  a  private  letter  to  Mr. 
King,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  in  which  his  catholic 
feelings  are  frankly  and  forcibly  expressed  in  his  characteristic 
style.  In  nearly  every  measure  these  two  gentlemen  were  en- 
tirely agreed  ;  and  if  on  any  point  they  differed  in  opinion, 
their  cordial  friendship  for  each  other  never  ceased. 

The  changes  contemplated  by  the  Trustees  in  the  statutes 
and  management  of  the  College,  required  legislative  sanction. 
This  led  to  a  brief  correspondence  with  Mr.  Clinton: — 

DR.  M.  TO  HON.  DEWITT  CLINTON. 

New  York,  March  1,  1810. 

Dear  Sir  :  You  may  possibly  recollect  a  very  free  conver- 
sation which  we  had  some  time  ago  at  your  house,  relative  to 
Columbia  College.  I  then  stated  to  you  at  length  the  circum- 
stances of  the  institution,  and  especially  the  difficulties  which 
we  have  had  to  encounter  from  the  restrictions  of  our  actual 
charter.  I  also  used  the  liberty  to  point  out  the  manner  in 
which  the  amendment  to  our  bill  by  the  Senate,  making  the 
Trustees  eligible  by  the  Eegents,  must  operate,  not  only  on  the 
feelings  of  the  gentlemen  composing  our  Board,  but  on  the 
prosperity  of  the  College  itself.     I  well  remember  the  liberal 


ALTERATION   OF  THE   CHARTER.  345 

sentiments  you  expressed  on  the  occasion  ;  and  the  recollection 
induces  me  to  ask  and  hope  for  your  patronage  to  an  applica- 
tion from  the  Board,  which  goes  up  with  this  letter  to  our 
Trustees  in  Albany,  to  be  presented  to  the  Legislature.  I  have 
the  most  perfect  assurance  that  the  grantingof  our  petition  will 
be  the  beginning  of  a  prosperity  to  Columbia  College  which 
she  has  never  enjoyed  hitherto.  You  are  not  a  stranger  to  the 
efforts  which  I  have  made  personally,  for  years  together,  to 
place  our  education  upon  a  solid  basis,  and  to  rear  it  up  with 
elegance  and  dignity.  Matters  are  now  in  the  most  favourable 
train ;  and  I  trust  that  I  do  not  presume  too  far  upon  your 
kindness  as  a  fellow  alumnus  of  the  same  Alma  Mater,  in  count- 
ing upon  your  favourable  interposition,  both  in  the  Senate,  and 
among  the  members  as  you  may  fall  in  with  them.  As  litera- 
ture is  of  no  political  party,  it  is  a  consolation  that  there  is  some 
neutral  ground,  on  which  gentlemen  of  different  political  opin- 
ions may  meet  and  harmonize.  I  entreat,  Sir,  from  your 
generosity,  that  no  restriction,  like  that  which  frustrated  our 
application  before,  may  now  be  added ;  not  to  add  the  mortifica- 
tion to  which  we  must  be  subjected  by  a  clause  implying  at 
least,  that  we  are  unworthy  of  our  trust ;  and  which  can  be 
better  appreciated  by  nothing  than  by  your  own  sensibility. 
The  pri)iciple  of  that  restriction,  viz.,  putting  Columbia  College 
on  the  same  ground  with  that  of  Schenectady,  does  not  apply. 
If  I  have  been  rightly  informed,  that  restriction  was  agreeable 
to  the  corporation  of  Union  College.  It  is  the  reverse  here.  The 
vicinity  of  Schenectady  opens  access  to  sufficient  inquiry, 
and  precludes  embarrassment  and  delay.  It  is  the  reverse  here. 
And  a  grant  of  money  was  coupled  with  the  restriction  in  the 
case  of  Union  College.  There  was  no  grant  here.  Even  then 
it  was  left  optional  to  Union  College.  She  was  to  receive  the 
money  on  condition  of  acceding  to  the  alteration  in  her  charter. 
Upon  us  it  was  to  be  fixed  unconditionally.  Flattering  my- 
self that  you  will  view  our  petition  as  reasonable,  and  facilitate 
the  passage  of  our  bill,  I  shall  trespass  upon  your  time  no  long- 
er than  to  express  the  respect  with  which  I  am 

Your  humble  servant, 

J.  M.  MiiSON. 


346  PETITION   GRANTED. 


TO  THE  REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Albany,  March  19,  1810. 

Dear  Sir  :  The  bill  relative  to  Columbia  College  passed  the 
Senate  this  morning,  without  a  dissenting  voice.  The  considera- 
tions mentioned  in  your  letter  had  their  due  weight ;  and  I 
fully  agree  with  you,  that,  in  whatever  relates  to  the  improve- 
ment of  the  human  mind,  there  ought  to  be  no  party. 
I  am  respectfully  your 

Most  obedient  servant, 

DEWITT  CLINTON. 


CHAPTEE   XXVII. 

1810. 

RESIGNATION    OF    HIS  PASTORAL   CHARGE. 

Wishes  a  Colleague — llcqucsts  a  larger  edifice — Meeting  of  the  Ciiurch — Applica- 
tion to  the  Presbytery— Speech  on  the  occasion — Tvctter  to  Mr.  James  McChord 
— Letter  from  Mr.  Joseph  Noursc — Letter  from  Dr.  J.  Morse — Letter  to  Mr. 
J.  McChord. 

The  resignation  of  his  pastoral  charge  was  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  event  in  this  period  of  Dr.  Mason's  life.  As 
early  as  1807,  the  weight  of  his  various  duties,  rendering  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  meet  the  parochial  wants  of  his  church  to 
his  own  satisfaction,  he  had  felt  constrained  to  ask  for  a  col- 
league to  relieve  him  of  this  responsibility.  An  embargo  soon 
after  imposed  upon  our  foreign  commerce  by  the  government, 
so  depressed  all  kinds  of  business  in  the  city,  that  the  measure 
was  not  then  pressed.  As  soon  as  the  embargo  was  removed, 
still  having  the  same  object  in  view,  he  proposed  to  his  Trustees 
a  measure  which  he  thought  would  enable  them  without  diffi- 
culty to  accomplish  it.  This  measure  was  the  subject  of  the 
following  communication  : — 

New  York,  IGth  May,  1809. 
To  the  Chairman  oftJie  Trustees  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church : 

Sir  :  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  thought  officious  in  asking  the 
early  and  decisive  attention  of  the  Trustees  to  an  object  of  con- 
fes.sed  importance,  and  which  has,  for  some  time  back  been  a 
frequent  topic  of  conversation  among  the  members  of  our  own, 
and  our  neighbouring  churches — I  mean  the  erection  of  a  new 
and  larger  place  of  worship. 

I  have  often  expressed  an  opinion  that  a  place  of  worsliip 
should  be  of  a  moderate  size ;  very  little,  if  any  more  spacious 


848  A   LARGER  EDIFICE   DESIRED. 

than  the  one  which  we  already  possess.  And  to  that  opinion, 
as  a  general  rule,  I  still  adhere.  But  this  rule  like  all  others,  I 
find  by  experience,  to  have  exceptions.  Great  cities  produce 
habits  and  circumstances  which  cannot  be  controlled  by  a  small 
section  of  its  inhabitants,  and  which  prudence  directs  them  to 
turn  to  their  advantage.  It  is  a  principle  in  human  nature,  that 
everything,  to  be  respectable,  must  be  on  a  scale  proportioned 
to  the  scene  of  action.  Large  cities,  therefore,  will  have  large 
dwelling  houses;  large  buildings  for  civil  purposes;  large 
establishments  for  charity;  and,  on  the  same  ground,  large 
churches.  Viewing  the  subject  in  this  light,  I  am  compelled  to 
yield  to  the  reasons  which  require  us  to  prepare,  without 
delay,  for  providing  a  large  and  more  commodious  house  of 
worship. 

We  owe  it  to  our  own  relative  standing  in  the  community, 
which  will  be  materially  affected  for  the  better  by  such  an 
alteration. 

We  owe  it  to  the  claims  upon  our  liberality  for  great  and 
noble  purposes  of  beneficence,  which  it  will  be  in  our  power  to 
answer  more  extensively,  as  well  as  more  easily;  by  an  increase 
of  members. 

We  owe  it  to  our  own  children,  who,  very  shortly,  must  be 
expelled  from  our  sanctuary,  unless  room  be  made  for  them. 

We  owe  it,  finally,  to  the  great  interests  of  religious  truth 
and  order,  which  our  Lord  and  Master  has  committed  to  our 
hands,  and  which  we  are  bound  both  by  his  authority  and  his 
love,  to  extend  as  far  as  we  can. 

The  measure,  therefore,  which  I  have  taken  the  freedom  to 
recommend,  must  come  into  operation  before  long,  whether  we 
wall  or  whether  we  will  not.  In  this  alternative,  the  sooner 
the  better.  If  it  is  to  be  done  at  all,  my  persuasion  is,  that  it 
should  be  done  7iow.     My  reasons  are  these : 

That  which  must  be  done  hereafter,  and  may  be  done  now, 
ought,  for  that  reason  alone,  to  be  done  now. 

They  who  do  not  "seize  Time  by  the  forelock^  will  find  it 
very  difficult  to  hold  him  by  the  hack  of  the  head.''^  In  plain 
words — if  we  wait  till  circumstances  command  us,  when  it  is  in 
our  power  to  command  circumstances,  we  commit  an  act  of 
indiscretion  of  which  we  shall  repent  but  once,  and  that  is  for 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  ACTION.  349 

ever  after.  This  congregation  lias  already  lost  an  immense 
amount  of  comfort,  if  not  of  property,  by  permitting  occasions 
to  pass  by  unimproved. 

The  impediments  to  the  public  prosperity  arc  again  removed, 
and  tlie  return  of  commerce  and  active  business  has  diffused 
cheerfulness  and  spirit  through  the  communit3\  Strike  while 
the  iron  is  hot.     Six  months  hence  may  be  too  late. 

There  is  a  strong  religious  sensibility  in  the  city,  peculiarly 
favourable  to  the  undertaking. 

The  congregation  is  ripe  for  it.  It  is  a  subject  of  conversa- 
tion and  anxiety  ;  and  some  are  ready  to  step  forward  with 
liberal  donations. 

A  number  of  respectable  and  religious  families  are  waiting 
to  sec  if  they  can  be  accommodated.  They  cannot,  and  ought 
not  to  remain  unsettled.  The  prospect  of  procuring  seats  will 
determine  them.     Otherwise  they  must  and  will   go  elsewhere. 

The  expense  of  building  will  be  much  lef^s  to  us  than  to 
others.  After  allowing  for  the  ground  and  materials  already  our 
own,  and  deducting  from  the  additional  cost  the  amount  of 
donations  which  will  be  made,  the  balance  will  be  compara- 
tively trifling,  and,  by  a  judicious  mode  of  arranging  the  finan- 
ces of  the  congregation,  will  be  speedily  extinguished.  Had 
the  thing  been  done  seven  years  ago,  we  might  now  have 
flourished  in  a  remarkable  degree,  and  been  nearly,  if  not  en- 
tirely out  of  debt.  Shoukl  the  present  opportunity  be  suffered 
to  slip,  we  may  in  vain  look  for  another  like  it  for  a  dozen 
years  to  come.  There  are  critical  periods  in  the  history  of 
societies  as  well  as  of  individuals,  which,  if  once  lost,  are  lost 
forever.  The  present  seems  to  be  such  with  us.  Should  the 
Trustees  see  the  matter  in  this  light,  as  I  flatter  myself  they 
will,  not  an  hour  should  be  lost  in  forming  their  purpose,  mak- 
ing it  public,  and  following  it  up  with  dctivc  measures.  The 
whole  extent  of  my  personal  efforts  they  know  they  can  com- 
mand, and  that  I  am,  with  perfect  respect  and  attachment. 
Their  much  obliged  and  obedient. 

J.  M.  MASON. 

To  the  foregoing  communication  the  Trustees  replied,  on  the 
7th  November  following,  that  they  had  "  postponed  the  con- 
sideration thereof  for  the  present." 


350  COMMUNICATION  TO  THE   PEOPLE. 

In  consequence  of  tliis  answer.  Dr.  Mason  convened  the 
whole  church  on  the  12th  March,  1810,  and  made  known  his 
intention  of  resigning  his  charge.  This  was  done  in  the  fol- 
lowing paper,  read  before  them : — 

To  the  Members  of  the  First  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  the  City 

of  New  York  : 

Christian  Brethren  :  I  have  requested  your  attendance  this 
evening,  in  order  to  lay  before  you  the  result  of  my  reflections 
on  a  subject  which  has  long  been  a  source  of  painful  uneasiness 
to  my  mind. 

It  is  now  nearly  seventeen  years  since  it  pleased  God  to  call 
me  to  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  and  to  assign  me  to  this 
congregation  as  the  immediate  scene  of  my  labours.  The 
flower  of  my  days  has  been  spent  with  you.  The  course  of  my 
services  has  been  marked  with  much  imperfection,  and  many 
failures  ;  but  marked  also,  as  I  humbly  hope,  b}''  some  degree 
of  acceptance  with  Grod,  and  usefulness  to  man.  Being  the  sole 
pastor  of  the  congregation,  I  was  bound  to  perform  all  the 
duties  of  that  responsible  office,  in  so  far  as  I  was  really  able. 
For  several  years  after  my  settlement  among  you,  the  state  of 
my  health,  as  you  well  remember,  forbade,  almost  altogether, 
my  discharge  of  those  important  functions  which  are  compre- 
hended under  the  general  term  of  Parochial  duty.  When  this 
impediment  was  removed,  others  were  created  by  trusts  and 
employments  so  extensive  in  their  nature  and  so  imperious  in 
their  obligation,  as  to  demand  my  first  care,  and  to  consume  the 
leisure  which  I  should  otherwise  have  enjoj'cd.  Thus  year 
after  year  has  glided  by,  duties  of  high  moment  to  your  welfare 
have  been  unfulfilled,  and  the  prospect  of  their  being  fulfilled 
by  me,  is  more  distant  than  ever. 

Perceiving,  as  I  do,  their  absolute  necessity'  to  your  pros- 
perit}'- ;  knowing  that  the  omission  of  them  graduall}'"  weakens 
the  bond  of  affection  which  should  closely  unite  a  pastor  and 
his  people  ;  estranges  the  mind  of  individual  members  from  the 
sense  of  their  common  interest  in  each  other ;  enfeebles  the 
power  of  social  action  ;  and  relaxes  the  nerves  of  efficient  disci- 
pline— persuaded  that  Christian  instruction,  exhortation, 
reproof,  and  consolation,  are  circumscribed  in  their  influence, 


INTERESTS  OF  THE   CHURCH.  351 

and  lose  much  of  their  eflect,  when  they  are  not  brought  home 
by  a  discreet  exercise  of  pastoral  inspection  ;  and  accounting 
the  respect  paid  to  merely  public  talent  but  a  meagre  substitute 
for  that  ardent  attachment  which  dies  away  under  the  suspicion 
of  neglect ;  feeling,  I  say,  the  weight  of  these  considerations, 
it  is  impossible  for  my  heart  to  be  tranquil.  My  inquietude 
does  not  arise  from  self-reproach.  As  the  highest  of  all  au- 
thority, even  the  indisputable  authority  of  Him  whose  I  am  and 
whom  I  serve,  has  released  me  from  parochial  duties,  by  calling 
me  to  others  which  are  imcompatible  with  them,  my  conscience 
is  pure.  My  anxiety  is  caused  b}^  the  damage  which  your  in- 
terests must  sustain  in  consequence  of  parochial  duties  not 
being  performed  at  all.  Your  patience  under  the  privation,  and 
your  kindness  to  me  personally,  increase,  instead  of  diminish- 
ing my  difficult}'.  These  things  I  frankly  communicated  to 
you  at  a  congregational  meeting  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1807. 
Although  I  had  frequently  spoken  of  them  in  private,  I  did 
not  think  it  could  answer  any  good  purpose  to  bring  them  be- 
fore you  collectively,  so  long  as  I  could  not  see  how  the  incon- 
venience was  to  be  remedied.  But  when  a  remedy  appeared 
to  me  as  within  reach,  I  embraced  an  early  opportunity  of 
proposing  it,  which  I  did  at  the  meeting  alluded  to,  by  recom- 
mending the  choice  of  an  assistant  to  whom  the  parochial  duties 
should  be  exclusively  committed.  I  was  disappointed.  Beside 
the  embarrassment  of  our  national  affairs,  which  for  a  time 
paralysed  almost  every  effort,  a  more  serious  check  was  given 
to  the  measure  by  the  state  of  our  finances,  which,  it  was  suppo- 
sed, could  not  be  made  sufficient  to  cover  the  additional  expend- 
iture without  either  distressing  or  banishing  the  poorer  part  of 
the  congregation.  My  next  concern,  therefore,  was  to  devise 
some  means  of  so  augmenting  our  resources  as  to  remove  this 
obstacle.  After  very  maturely  considering  the  matter,  and 
balancing  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  both  to  this  con- 
gregation, and  to  the  church  at  large,  I  suggested  the  propriety 
of  building  a  new  and  more  spacious  place  of  worship.  As  I 
had  no  doubt  of  the  practicability  of  this  scheme,  and  of  a 
sufficiency  of  numbers  speedily  to  fill  the  house,  my  calculation 
was,  that  a  revenue  might  be  secured,  equal  to  all  expenses ; 
and  also  that  sources  would  be  opened  of  further  support   for 


352  INTERESTS   OF   THE   SEMINARY. 

our  Theological  Seminary,  with  which,  in  a  great  measure,  our 
whole  body  and  a  vast  amount  of  Christian  interests  allied  to  it, 
seem  likely  to  stand  or  fall.  But  I  was  again  disappointed. 
The  same  objection  recurred.  A  new  church,  it  was  imagined, 
could  not  be  erected  without  oppression  to  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  congregation.  I  found  also  a  settled  opposition  to 
the  plan  of  my  having  an  assistant  on  any  terms.  What  the 
extent  of  it  is,  I  have  not  so  much  as  endeavoured  to  ascertain, 
because  I  perceived  it  to  be  enough  to  involve  the  prosecution 
of  my  wishes  in  much  difficult3^  Upon  the  whole  I  am  con- 
vinced that  my  proposal  cannot  be  carried  through  with  that 
cordiality  which  is  indispensable  to  your  comfort  and  to  my 
own.  The  question  is  decided.  My  last  hope  of  extricating 
both  you  and  myself  from  our  perplexed  condition,  and  yet 
preserving  our  relation  to  each  other,  has  vanished  away.  The 
higher  duties  which  I  owe  to  the  church  of  God  leave  no  place 
for  the  details  of  a  pastoral  charge.  I  am  at  best  but  a  nominal 
pastor,  and  there  is  no  probability  of  my  becoming  a  real  one. 
I  stand  in  the  way  of  one  who  might  be  such.  I  cannot  consent 
to  remain  in  a  situation  so  afflicting  to  myself,  and  so  injurious 
to  you.  The  only  alternative  is  that  which  I  have  adopted  and 
am  about  to  mention.  An  alternative  not  hastily  resolved 
upon  ;  distinctl}^  anticipated  long  ago  as  a  possible  event ;  put 
off  by  my  utmost  exertions  to  avoid  it,  until  I  am  shut  up  to 
it ;  pondered,  with  much  tenderness  and  solemnity,  at  various 
intervals  and  under  various  states  of  mind ;  spread  out,  not 
once,  nor  twice,  "  with  strong  crying  and  tears,"  before  the  mercy- 
seat;  and  not  resorted  to  after  all  but  from  a  deliberate  and 
thorough  conviction  of  duty  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  as  one 
that  must  give  account.  Brethren,  we  must  part.  My  agita- 
tation  and  my  anguish  in  announcing  this  to  you  are  extreme. 
But  the  die  is  cast.  The  thing  is  inevitable.  I  have,  therefore, 
to  inform  you,  that  it  is  my  intention  to  resign  my  pastoral 
charge  into  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  at  their 
next  stated  meeting,  to  be  held  in  the  town  of  Newburgh  on 
Wednesday  the  16tli  day  of  May  next  ensuing,  I  give  you 
this  early  notice  that  you  may  appoint,  if  you  shall  judge  it 
proper,  commissioners  to  attend  the  Presbytery,  and  make  any 
representations  which  you  may  desire,  so  as  to  save  the  Pres- 


I 

NO   PRIVATE   DISSATISFACTION.  353 

b^^tery  the  trouble  of  a  special  meeting.  At  the  same  time  can- 
dour obliges  me  to  state,  tll^t  I  have  communicated  my  purpose, 
not  as  a  matter  on  which  my  own  mind  is  dubious  or  wavering ; 
nor  as  a  manoeuvre  to  accomplish,  by  indirect  means,  views 
which  I  directly  attempted  without  success.  My  resolution  is 
fixed,  and  cannot  be  altered  by  any  steps  which  may  now  be 
taken. 

I  shall  detain  you  no  longer  than  to  subjoin  an  observation 
or  two  for  preventing  mistakes.  During  the  whole  period  of 
our  connexion  the  utmost  harmony  has  subsisted  between  us. 
The  reiterated  proofs  of  your  affection  I  shall  cherish  as  a  spring 
of  grateful  recollection  while  my  memory  retains  her  scat.  Dis- 
satisfaction with  my  people  I  have  none.  Neither  am  I  influ- 
enced by  pecuniary  motives.  Your  last  unsolicited,  unexpected 
addition  to  my  income,  notwithstanding  the  evils  under  which 
you  labour  were  not  removed,  is  a  proof  that  you  are  ready  to 
preclude  all  just  uneasiness  on  that  score.*  But  my  salary 
doubled,  trebled,  quadrupled,  would  not  induce  me  to  retract, 
or  even  to  hesitate.  The  reasons  of  my  present  conduct  would 
still  operate  with  unabated  force. 

Nor  have  I  been  impelled  by  private  chagrin  or  resentments. 
I  have  no  personal  quarrel  with  any  man  among  you ;  and  if  I 
had,  I  should  enjoy  ineffable  consolation  from  the  assurance 
that  the  uniform  tenor  of  my  life  puts  me  above  the  suspicion 
of  acting  from  such  paltry  passions. 

In  declaring  my  intention  of  resigning  my  charge,  I  am  not 
to  be  understood  as  expressing  any  intention  of  abandoning  the 
pulpit.  To  preach  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified,  is  my  hon- 
our and  my  happiness:  nor  shall  I  desist  from  my  loved  em- 
ployment so  long  as  I  am  permitted  to  abide  in  it ;  but  shall 
continue  to  labour  in  word  and  doctrine  as  God  in  his  prov- 
idence shall  appoint  me  to  a  proper  scene  of  action.  In  the  in- 
terim between  this  date  and  the  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  in 
^[ay,  I  shall  perform,  if  the  Lord  will,  my  public  functions  as 
usual. 

The  respect  which  I  owe  to  my  more  intimate  friends,  and 

°  Some  months  before,  the  congregation,  without  my  request,  expectation,  or 
knowledge,  unanimously  voted  the  addition  of  £100  per  annum  to  my  former 
salary.  J.  M.  M. 

23 


354  AN  EXPLANATION. 

especially  to  the  members  of  Session,  demands  an  explanation  of 
my  silence  on  this  interesting  subject  until  the  hour  of  my  lay- 
ing it  before  the  congregation.  It  is  not  strictly  a  sessional 
business.  Talking  of  it,  while  the  facts  to  determine  the  issue 
were  still  in  suspense,  might  have  been  interpreted  as  a  threat, 
or  at  least  as  an  indecorum  toward  the  congregation.  I  also 
studied  to  shun  the  multitude  of  discussions  to  which  it  would 
have  given  rise ;  and  thus  to  spare  myself  and  my  brethren 
much  pain  which  would  otherwise  have  been  unavoidable.  My 
feelings  at  this  moment  justify  my  precaution:  they  are  suffi- 
ciently excruciating  without  having  been  subjected  to  agony  a 
thousand  times  repeated. 

You  will  readily  excuse  me  for  not  addressing  you  in  person 
on  this  occasion.  My  heart  tells  me  that  I  could  hardly  sustain 
the  conflict.  That  heart  is  filled,  and  shall  be  filled  with  affec- 
tionate remembrance  of  you,  and  with  fervent  supplications  for 
your  temporal  and  eternal  felicity,  while  the  hand  which  ex- 
presses its  emotions  is  able  to  subscribe  the  name  of 

Your  friend  and  pastor, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

New  York,  March  12th,  1810. 

On  the  17th  May  Dr.  Mason  presented  to  the  Presbytery  his 
formal  request  for  a  dissolution  of  his  pastoral  connexion  in  the 
words  following  : — 

To  the  Moderator  and  Members  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Presby- 
tery of  New  York^  to  meet  at  Newburgh,  on  Wednesday,  the  IQth 
day  of  May  instant: 

Keverend  Brethren  :  Serious  reflection,  often  repeated, 
and,  for  a  considerable  time  past,  habitual ;  accompanied  also, 
if  I  do  not  entirely  mistake,  with  scrupulous  caution  and  fer- 
vent prayer  against  an  improper  bias,  has  convinced  me  that 
my  longer  continuance  in  my  present  congregational  charge, 
will  be  favourable  neither  to  my  own  peace,  nor  to  my  people's 
benefit,  nor  to  the  general  interests  of  our  church. 

"Not  that  I  have  aught  to  accuse  my  people  of"  Their 
fidelity  to  their  engagements ;  their  kindness  to  mj-self ;  their 
respectful  attention  to  my  ministry ;  their  public  spirit ;  their 
orderly  deportment,  ever  since  my  settlement  among  them,  have 


APPLICATION   TO   THE   PRESBYTERY.  355 

endeared  them  to  my  heart,  and  shall  forever  sweeten  the  mem- 
ory of  my  relation  to  them. 

But  I  find  by  experience  that  parochial  cares,  to  which  my 
own  judgment  not  less  than  my  ordination  vows  attaches  high 
importance,  are  incompatible  with  the  work  which  the  Head  of 
the  church  has  been  pleased  to  assign  to  me ;  and  accordingly 
I  do  not  so  much  as  pretend  to  perform  the  duties  resulting 
from  them. 

I  see  the  congregation  suffering  for  the  want  of  an  efficient 
pastoral  inspection ;  and  I  anticipate  with  alarm  the  conse- 
quences of  this  evil,  unless  preventive  measures  be  adopted 
speedily, 

I  have  used,  without  success,  the  only  means  in  my  power  to 
avoid  the  step  which  I  am  now  forced  to  take. 

My  congregation  are  fully  apprised  of  my  intention,  and  of 
my  reasons,  as  will  appear  from  the  document  herewith  present- 
ed. The  decisive  expressions  there  used  are  to  be  interpreted 
simply  of  my  resolution  to  pursue  my  present  application,  and 
not  as  interfering,  in  any  degree,  with  the  submission  which  I 
owe  to  the  authority  of  the  Lord's  house. 

I  am  forbidden  by  every  Christian  principle,  and  by  every 
honourable  sentiment,  to  retain  a  station  of  which  I  cannot 
fulfil  the  duties.  I  am  equally  forbidden  to  sacrifice  the  greater 
trust  to  the  less;  and  as  faithfulness  to  both  cannot  co-exist,  I 
have  only  the  afilicting  alternative  of  praying  the  Reverend 
Presbytery  to  release  me  from  my  pastoral  connexion. 

New  York,  8th  May,  1810.  J.  M.  MASON. 

Without  acting  on  this  request,  the  Presbytery  adjourned 
to  meet  in  the  First  Church  in  New  York  on  the  24th  of  the 
same  month.  On  this  occasion  Dr.  ^Nlason  gave  his  views  in 
full  on  the  whole  subject.  From  his  speech,  which  has  else- 
where been  published,  we  present  the  beginning  and  the  close : — 

"  Mr.  Moderator  :  If  the  circumstances  under  which  I 
now  address  tiiis  Presbytery  did  not  deeply  agitate  my  mind, 
I  should  have  forsworn  the  best  affections  of  human  nature.  In 
the  disruption  of  any  ties  which  do  not  bind  us  to  misery,  there 
is  something  painful ;  but  in  the  disruption  of  ties  wliicli  form 
one  of  the  most  tender  relations  of  life ;  which  time  has  made 


356  REASONS   OF   ATTACHMENT.^ 

venerable,  friendship  sweet,  and  religion  sacred,  there  is  some- 
thing at  which  the  heart  trembles  and  shrinks  away.  I  own 
that  I  have  trembled ;  I  own  that  I  have  shrunk,  in  the  antici- 
pation of  this  hour.  Seventeen  years  of  a  comfortable,  a 
cherished,  and,  I  trust,  not  altogether  a  barren  ministry,  create 
feelings  which  the  touch  of  rudeness  would  profane ;  and  claims 
■which  none  but  the  highest  authority  can  set  aside.  I  have 
peculiar  causes  of  attachment  to  my  people,  and  to  the  place 
where  they  worship.  Both  are,  in  some  sense,  my  inheritance. 
Here  my  father  prayed,  and  God  heard  him :  here  my  father 
preached,  and  God  gave  him  seals  of  his  ministry  and  crowns 
of  his  rejoicing.  The  memorial  of  his  faithfulness  is  perpetually 
before  my  eye ;  and  in  the  spot  over  which  I  now  stand,  his 
flesh  rests  in  hope.  I  have  entered  into  his  labours.  The  seed 
which  he  sowed  I  have  been  honoured  to  water.  I  have  seen 
many  of  them  who  were  the  friends  of  his  earlier  and  of  his  later 
days,  who  have  also  been  my  own  friends,  gathered  peacefully 
to  the  tomb.  I  see  others  of  them  waiting  till  their  change  come. 
I  meet  every  Lord's  day ;  I  discern  around  me  now,  the  faces 
of  not  a  few  whom  I  may  present  before  the  mercj'^-seat,  and 
say,  "  These  are  the  children  whom  thou  hast  given  me."  As- 
suredly, were  affection  the  only  thing  to  be  consulted,  instead 
of  cutting  the  cord  which  unites  me  to  them,  I  should  seek  to 
entwine  it  more  closely  with  every  ligament  of  my  frame.  But 
I  am  not  my  own  ;  I  am  not  theirs.  I  owe  a  nobler  allegiance 
than  can  grow  out  of  their  love ;  and  to  that  allegiance  do  I 
bow  when  I  ask  to  be  released  from  my  pastoral  charge. 

"  Moderator  :  The  system  of  every  well-regulated  church  is 
a  system  of  fixed  ministrations.  For  the  lighter  services  of 
the  pulpit ;  for  social  prayer  and  exhortation ;  generally,  for 
the  more  public  exercises  of  religion,  an  itinerant  ministry, 
although,  with  the  exception  of  missionaries,  far  inferior  in 
labour,  in  care,  in  self  denial,  in  responsibility,  may  get  along 
and  be  popular.  But  for  sound  exposition  of  the  Scriptures  ; 
for  "  giving  to  every  one  his  portion  of  meat  in  due  season ;" 
for  training  up  the  youth ;  for  coercive  and  preventing  disci- 
pline; for  carrying  both  the  law  and  gospel  home  to  every 
man's  "  business  and  bosom  ;"  briefly,  for  binding  up  and  con- 
solidating the  invaluable  interests  of  a  Christian  community, 


STATED  MINISTRY — PAROCHIAL   DITTIES.  357 

tlicrc  is  no  adequate,  and  no  appointed  means  but  a  stated  min- 
istry. Without  it  there  may  he  preachers^  in  abundance,  pasto7's 
there  can  be  none.  This  broad  and  obvious  distinction  is  re- 
cognized in  the  form  of  a  call  customary  in  our  churches; 
which,  taking  for  granted  that  a  minister  is  to  preach,  lays  the 
principal  stress  upon  his  pastoral  character.  True  it  is,  that 
no  man  can  be  a  scriptural  pastor,  who  does  not  "feed  his  flock 
with  knowledge  and  with  understanding  :"  but  he  may  provied 
their  weekly  food,  plenty  and  good,  and  yet  lamentably  fail  in 
his  pastoral  work.  For  my  own  part,  the  longer  I  consider  the 
nature  and  design  of  the  Christian  ministrj^,  the  more  does  the 
importance  of  those  functions  which  are  termed  parochialdiUi/, 
rise  to  my  view.  I  am  persuaded,  that  without  them  no  con- 
gregation can  permanently  flourish,  nor  any  pastor  be  perma- 
nently comfortable.  There  are  a  thousand  avenues  to  conviction 
which  no  public  instruction  can  enter.  A  thousand  difliculties 
to  be  solved  which  the  pulpit  cannot  reach.  There  is  an  adap- 
tation of  general  truth  to  particular  circumstances,  fit  only  for 
the  private  walk  or  the  fireside.  There  is  a  correspondence 
between  doctrine  preached  and  exemplified  which  forces  its  way 
silently,  but  most  effectually,  to  the  heart.  By  pastoral  vigilance 
and  prudence,  abuses  are  to  be  checked,  and  scandals  prevented, 
which  when  permitted  to  ripen  for  judicial  cognizance,  are  often 
beyond  remed3\  It  is  of  unutterable  moment  to  couple,  in  the 
early  associations  of  children,  the  idea  of  their  minister  with 
that  of  a  spiritual  fiither,  and  of  their  own  relation  and  duties 
to  the  church  of  God — which  is  impossible  without  frequent 
and  affectionate  intercourse.  The  want  of  this  is  the  most  fer- 
tile secondary  cause  of  tiiat  absurd  contradiction  which  reigns 
among  the  churches — treating  our  baptized  youth  as  if  they 
were  mere  heathen.  The  feeble  are  to  be  strengthened,  the 
lame  to  be  healed,  the  wanderers  to  be  hunted  up  and  brought 
back.  The  drooping  spirit  is  to  be  cheered  ;  the  thoughtless 
spirit  admonished,  the  impetuous  spirit  restrained.  The  pres- 
ence of  a  faithful  pastor  refreshes  the  soul  of  labour,  and 
sweetens  the  crust  of  poverty.  His  voice  smooths  the  bed  of 
sickness,  and  mitigates  the  rigours  of  death.  In  short,  his  peo- 
ple expect  from  him  numerous  attentions  which  allow  of  no 
substitute.  They  furnish  an  irresistible  argument  for  rich  prepa- 


358  EVILS   OF  A   BAD   EXAMPLE. 

ration  before  he  begins.  He  will  find  it  a  hard  effort  to  make 
up  deficiency  afterwards,  and  not  withhold  them.  Yet  with- 
hold them,  and  affection,  the  basis  of  confidence  and  of  usefal- 
ness,  gradually  wears  away.  Talent  may  inspire  admiration ; 
it  will  certainly  command  respect ;  but  it  cannot  extort  love. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  nothing  which  men  resent  more 
promptly,  forgive  more  reluctantly,  and  forget  more  slowly, 
than  neglect.  You  may  deny  their  requests ;  you  may  expose 
their  errors  ;  you  may  reprove  their  faults  ;  but  neglect  them 
you  may  not.  The  civilities  of  life,  and  the  friendly  exterior 
may  indeed  remain  ;  but  you  shall  find,  on  the  first  decisive 
experiment,  that  the  power  of  their  affection  is  gone.  They 
always  feel  themselves  neglected  when  the  parish  services  of 
their  minister  are  not  rendered.  Whether  the  neglect  be  real, 
or  only  apparent.  Whether  there  be  just  cause  or  not,  for  the 
omission,  are  questions  which  may  have  some  influence  on  the 
progress  of  things  toward  this  result,  but  will  very  slightly,  if 
at  all,  vary  the  result  itself  The  services  are  not  rendered,  and 
that  is  enough.  This  night  does  my  own  experience  seal  the 
truth  of  my  remark. 

"  Superadded  to  those  general  reasonings  which  apply  to  all 
pastors  and  their  people,  is  a  consideration  of  peculiar  force  in 
its  application  to  myself  To  me,  sir,  has  been  committed  that 
honourable,  but  most  arduous  and  responsible  office — the  office 
of  forming  the  minds  and  habits  of  our  rising  ministry.  On  me 
it  is  severely  incumbent  neither  to  lay  nor  permit  to  be  laid,  in 
so  far  as  I  can  hinder  it,  any  stumbling-block  before  their  feet. 
What  is  the  fact?  They  hear  me  urge  parochial  duties  as  in- 
dispensable. They  know  that  I  perform  none.  They,  at  the 
same  time,  see  my  congregation  apparently  flourishing.  What 
is  likely  to  be  the  present  conclusion?  Manifestly  this:  either 
that  I  do  not  believe  my  own  declarations,  or  that  supposing 
me  to  be  sincere,  I  over-rate  the  value  of  parochial  duties. 
What  is  likely  to  be  the  future  result?  Manifestly  this:  sup- 
posing that  any  of  them  should  neglect  their  own  charges,  they 
will  comfort  themselves  by  quoting  me.  They  will  remember 
the  general  fact,  and  will  forget  the  circumstances  which  render 
it  no  precedent  for  their  imitation.  They  will  also  be  tempted 
to  hold  in  light  estimation  the  sacredness  of  their  ordination- 


CONCLUSION.  359 

vows,  one  of  which  expressly  promises  diligence  in  parochial 
work.  And  thus,  in  the  yerj  act  of  betraying  their  trust,  they 
will  endeavour  to  quiet  their  consciences  by  pleading  the  ex- 
ample of  their  instructor  to  justify  their  treason.  No  example 
of  mine  must  afford  any  colour  for  such  an  abuse. 

-X-  *  4f-  *  *  -X-  *  * 

"  Me,  Sir,  nothing  can  take  by  surprise.  I  am  alike  prepared 
for  success  or  for  defeat.  I  am  prepared  to  see  our  holiest  in- 
terests flourish,  and  to  see  them  languish — prepared  to  see  our 
budding  hope,  our  little  Seminary,  branch  out  its  honours, 
shed  abroad  its  foliage,  and  multiply  its  fruits ;  or  withered, 
from  the  blossom  to  the  root,  by  the  deadly  east-wind  of  preju- 
dice and  parsimony — prepared  to  see  the  men  who  shall  refuse 
their  becoming  offerings  to  build  up  the  temple  of  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  put  their  money  in  a  bag  with  holes :  sow  much  and  reap 
little  :  their  fortunes  scattered  to  the  winds  of  heaven  ;  and  the 
iniquity  of  their  covctousness  or  of  their  passion  visited  upon 
their  children's  children.  The  flying  roll  wherein  is  written 
"  mourning  and  lamentation,  and  woe,"  passes  swiftly  over  the 
nations — I  hear  the  portentous  roaring  of  wild  misrule.  I  see 
approaching  the  cloud  of  desolation  which  is  to  rain  down  upon 
the  slumbering  churches  its  tempest  of  brimstone  and  salt.  My 
heart  is  pained  within  me. 

"For  myself,  an  atom  in  the  sum  of  things,  God  can  do  as 
well  without  me  as  with  me.  The  paramount  desire  of  my 
soul  is  to  proclaim  that  Saviour  whom  I  hope  to  meet  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven ;  and  to  assist  in  rearing  up  young  heralds  of 
his  truth,  who  shall  fight  his  battles  and  bear  his  glory  when 
my  feeble  voice  shall  be  heard  no  more,  and  my  clay  shall 
mingle  with  its  kindred  earth.  I  thank  my  Lord  for  all  the 
goodness  and  mercy  which  have  followed  me  to  this  day.  But 
if  the  hand  which  has  lifted  me  up  is  about  to  cast  me  down — 
'If  he  shall  thus  say,  I  have  no  delight  in  thee ;  behold,  here 
am  I,  let  him  do  to  me  as  seemeth  good  unto  him.'  " 


Dr.  Mason's  request  was  granted :  and  on  Friday  the  25th  of 
May,  he  was  released  from  his  pastoral  charge. 


360  CHANGE   OF   POLICY   SUGGESTED. 

The  plan  which  he  had  in  his  mind  when  he  resigned  his 
charge,  was  the  formation  of  a  third  church,  and  in  serving 
it  to  be  assisted  by  a  colleague.  This  was  disclosed  in  a  con- 
fidential communication  to  one  of  his  former  students,  then  be- 
come an  able  preacher  in  Kentucky : — 

DR.  M.  TO   THE   REV.  J.  McCHORD. 

New  York,  IGth  March,  1810. 

My  Dear  McChord  :  My  very  soul  is  grieved  by  the  dismal 
picture,  which  your  but  too  faithful  narrative  has  drawn,  of 
Christian  affairs  in  Kentucky.  I  did  not  suspect  that  our  infor- 
mation from  that  quarter  had  been  so  far  short  of  the  facts.  But 
on  this  you  may  always  calculate,  with  the  utmost  certainty, 
that  men  of  timid  minds  will  never  look  at  disagreeable  truth 
themselves,  nor  let  others  look  at  it,  if  they  can  avoid  it.  Con- 
cealment is  one  of  their  invariable  resources.  They  hold  on  in 
the  absurd  expectation  that  something  will  turn  up  to  extricate 
them.  Something  does  "turn  up"  in  reality;  but  almost 
always  something  which  makes  bad  still  worse  for  them.  I  did, 
however,  suspect  that  matters  could  not  go  on  long  without  a 
management  different  from  what  the  nature  of  the  case  had,  for 
several  years,  admitted.  I  did  not  suspect,  and  was  confident 
that  the  general  laws  of  human  things  would  produce  without 
speedy  relief,  some  deplorable  results  in  your  unhappy  region* 
The  effect  must  be  proportioned  to  the  cause.  But  not  having* 
as  I  now  perceive,  the  whole  truth  before  me,  I  had  hoped  that 
your  and  Crother's  appearance  would  have  fixed  the  check-pin  ; 
and  that  a  better  order  would  commence.  But  I  see  with  grief 
that  the  mischief  had  gone  too  far.  Your  facts  are  decisive,  and 
if  they  were  not,  this  mad  migration  to  the  Floridas  would  ren- 
der them  so.  I  discern  nothing  for  it  but  to  call  in  our  outposts, 
and  strengthen  our  centre.  Happy  will  it  be  if  we  shall  be 
allowed  to  maintain  our  own ;  and  affirm  even  that  my  convic- 
tion grows  every  day  that  horrible  desolation  awaits  the  Chris- 
tian interests  in  our  land ;  and  that  if  we  mean  to  do  anything 
to  purpose,  wc  must  abandon  the  plan  of  scattering,  and  come 
close  together.  I  tremble  at  the  anticipation  that  all,  or  nearly 
all,  the  Western  country  will  be  brutalized  and  paganized  ;  will 
be  a  huge  theatre  of  barbarity,  of  rapine,  of  profligacy,  of  Athe- 


HIS  PLAN   PROPOSED.  361 

ism,  and  that  we  shall  have  in  these  United  States,  millions 
of  white  heathen,  the  olTspring  of  our  own  bowels,  as  des- 
titute of  the  Gospel  of  life  and  immortality  as  the  Missouri 
Indians.  For  you,  my  dear  McChord,  your  present  is  not  a 
proper  scene  of  action.  Your  talents  will  be  lost,  your  spirits 
dissipated,  and  your  heart  broken,  in  a  fruitless  effort  to  stem 
an  irresistible  torrent.  I  trust  that  better  things  are  in  store 
for  you.  I  have  a  request  to  make,  which  I  reckon  with  confi- 
dence on  your  granting.  Do  not  think  of  settling,  nor  encour- 
age a  call  from  any  place  whatever  without  consulting  me.  My 
reason  is  this :  On  the  evening  of  the  13th  instant  I  announced 
to  my  congregation  my  intention  of  resigning  my  pastoral 
charge  on  the  16th  of  May  next,  when  our  Presbytery  is  to 
meet  at  Newburgh.  I  did  it  because  I  must  be  devoted  to  the 
general  interests  of  the  church,  and  cannot  discharge  parochial 
duties.  The  impression  was  strong.  The  result,  I  believe,  will 
be  that  a  third  church  will  be  set  up  in  which  I  shall  preach,  but 
in  which  also  there  will  be  another  minister  to  be  the  pastor  as 
well  as  to  preach.  Now,  my  dear  McChord,  my  heart  is  set 
upon  you.  We  cannot  do  without  you.  You  will  be  comfort- 
ably provided  for.  The  old  church  will  not  be  abandoned. 
They,  too,  will  turn  their  eyes  to  you.  Mr.  Annan  shortly 
removes  from  Baltimore.  There  also  is  a  project  for  calling 
you.  I  pray  you  to  visit  us,  if  possible,  soon.  Mind  not  a 
small,  nor  even  a  considerable  sacrifice;  it  will  be  ujade  up. 
But  I  feel  that  I  have  the  first  claim.  Kcmember  my  request. 
Grace  be  with  you.  My  love  to  your  beloved.  Believe  me  to 
be,  my  dear  McChord,  with  much  and  tender  affection, 

Yours,  &c., 

J.  M.  MASON. 

As  soon  as  the  Doctor's  purpose  respecting  a  third  church 
became  known,  the  public  mind  was  relieved  from  the  sensation 
produced  by  the  startling  announcement  of  his  intention  to 
resign.  As  far  as  Washington  at  least,  very  pleasant  anticijia- 
tions  were  immediately  cherished,  as  is  indicated  by  a  note  on 
the  subject  from  an  excellent  man  residing  in  that  city: — 


362  VIEWS   OF   DR.   MORSE. 


TO  THE  REV.  DR.  MASON,  NEW  YORK. 

City  of  Washington,  9th  April,  1810. 

My  Dear  Friend  :  The  reports  have  been  various,  and  no 
small  share  of  interest  excited  to  know  the  reasons  for  your 
intended  resignation  of  your  charge ;  amongst  the  number  Mr. 
Madison.  But  we  are  now  relieved,  and  the  idea  of  your  hav- 
ing further  usefulness  in  view,  confirmed. 

The  addition  of  another  congregation  to  the  connexion  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  will  I  doubt  not  be  the  means  in  the  hands 
of  the  great  Shepherd  of  Israel,  of  gathering  many  sheep  into 
his  fold.  How  pleasing  the  contemplation  that  some  may  be 
brought  in  who  are  now  in  darkness  and  under  the  power  of 
Satan.  May  the  bread  of  Life,  John  vi.  35-40,  nourish  many 
souls  who  are  yet  strangers  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Israel ! 
Those  verses  have  of  late  more  especially  been  the  food  of  my 
soul.  But  I  must  not  intrude  on  your  time.  The  occasion  of 
this,  is  to  express  an  interest  in  everything  which  concerns  you, 
and  in  proof  of  my  great  Christian  affection.  My  affectionate 
respects  to  your  family.     Dear  Sir, 

Yours  truly, 

JOSEPH  NOURSE. 

In  another  quarter,  other  hopes  were  entertained,  as  appears 
from  the  following  communication,  written  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  author's  residence: — 

TO  THE  REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Charleston,  S.C,  April  25th,  1810. 
My  Dear  Sir:  The  intelligence  of  your  resignation  of  your 
pastoral  office  has  reached  this  city,  and  with  it  the  proper  ex- 
planations from  some  friends.  The  hand  of  the  Lord  is  in  this, 
I  trust  for  good,  both  to  you  and  His  church.  May  He  make 
your  duty,  and  your  future  course  plain  before  you.  If  your 
plans  are  not  already  formed,  and  you  can  suspend,  till  I  see 
you  next  month,  your  determination,  as  to  your  future  course, 
I  pray  you  to  do  it.  Perhaps  Providence  intends  Boston, 
Andover,  or  Cambridge,  as  the  scene  of  your  labours.  Here 
you  know  is  a  wide  and  a  most  important  field  of  usefulness. 
Should  your   way  be   directed   thither,  my  heart  would   be 


ADVICE  askp:d  and  given.  863 

encouraged,  more  than  you  can  imagine,  to  go  home  and  renew 
my  labours  with  you  in  that  part  of  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord, 
which  is  so  awfully  overrun  with  errors,  and  torn  by  divisions. 
I  hope  your  views  have  been  toward  Boston  ;  if  not,  turn  them 
I  pray  you,  seriously  that  way. 

Our  friend  Abeel  is  here,  with  somewhat  better  health;  but 
still  unable  to  preach.  His  complaint  is  obstinate.  He  proposes 
to  go  shortly  to  Norfolk  by  water,  and  thence  by  land.  I  hope 
to  be  in  New  York  about  the  20th  of  next  month. 

Accept  for  yourself  and  Mrs.  Mason,  the  kind  regards  of  Mrs. 
Morse  and  myself,  and  believe  me  truly  your  friend  and 
brother, 

J.  MORSE. 

Though  a  formal  application  was  made  to  the  Presbytery  of 
Kentucky  in  behalf  of  Mr.  McChord  for  permission  to  visit  New 
York,  it  was  refused.  Thus  thrown  into  new  perplexity,  he 
writes  to  Dr.  Mason,  whom  he  styles  his  "father,"  for  advice; 
informing  him,  that  Mr.  Bishop  had  ofl'ered  to  relinquish  to  him 
a  place  of  his  own ;  and  also  that  he  might  take  charge  of 
an  academy  in  Ohio,  and  at  the  same  time  preach.  To  this  the 
Doctor  replied: — 

Dl^  M.  TO  TOE   REV.  JAMES   McCHORD. 

New  York,  25tli  Dec ,  1810. 
Mv  Dear  McCiiord  :  Two  days  ago  I  received  with  sur- 
prise and  grief  your  letter  of  the  3rd.  I  had  fully  counted  upon 
seeing  you  in  the  course  of  next  month,  and  upon  the  com- 
mencement of  great  benefit  from  your  arrival  to  the  interest  of 
the  churches.  The  disappointment,  as  proceeding  from  the 
agency  of  man,  has  nothing  mysterious  in  it ;  as  proceeding  at 
this  juncture  from  the  providence  of  God,  it  is  somewhat  dark. 
But  I  wish  not  to  repine.  He  does  all  things  well;  and  he  will 
enable  us  to  see  in  due  time,  how  he  has  done  this  well.  Sub- 
mission is  not  only  duty,  but  it  is  happiness;  and  there  is  no 
scene  so  fit  to  display  the  power  of  faith  as  the  "valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death."  "  Fear  not,"  my  dear  James,  "only  believe." 
We  have  a  guide  whose  eye  is  the  fountain  of  light,  and  whose 
arm  supports  us  with  the  patience  of  love. 


364  HABITS  MUST  BE   SAPPED,   NOT  STORMED. 

My  views  relative  to  your  transfer,  instead  of  being  changed, 
are  confirmed  by  what  has  happened.  If  you  must  forsake 
your  own  country  and  your  father's  house,  as  from  your  repre- 
sentations it  is  clear  you  must — if  you  must  goto  a  land  of 
strangers,  why  not  bend  your  course  to  a  station  where  you 
may  combine  extensive  service  to  your  Master's  kingdom,  with 
the  soothing  of  your  own  spirit,  and  the  promotion  of  your  do- 
mestic comfort?  I  have  long  ago  done  with  that  absurd  knight- 
errantry  which  courts  useless  mortification.  Its  mimic  gene- 
rosity, and  its  glare  of  heroism,  which  once  seduced  me,  seduce 
me  no  more.  But  it  requires  experience  to  persuade  an  ardent 
imagination,  that  a  barber's  basin  is  not  a  helmet ;  and  that 
bulls  and  windmills  are  not  giants.  One  v^^ill  get  no  more  thanks 
from  God  or  man  for  embracing  misery  which  he  may  lawfully 
shun,  or  making  sacrifices  which  he  may  honourably  decline, 
than  for  flagellating  his  back  into  ulcers,  when  he  may  be  quite 
as  religious  in  a  whole  skin.  I  am  glad  that  your  first  lessons 
have  not  been  thrown  away  upon  you,  and  that  you  have  de- 
clared against  such  silly  fanaticism. 

Should  your  "valley  of  Achor"  be  turned  into  "  a  door  of 
hope,"  something  not  unlike  a  miracle,  so  far  as  I  can  perceive, 
must  effect  the  conversion.  The  habits  of  a  country  are  fasti- 
dious and  stubborn.  They  are  not  to  be  argued  down.  They 
will  decay  and  moulder  under  a  million  changes  in  the  atmos- 
phere, but  they-mock  the  edge  of  the  axe.  You  may  sap  thera  ; 
you  cannot  storm  them.  Nor  are  they  to  be  blown  up  by  a 
flash  of  zeal.  In  your  Western  regions,  and  in  too  many  others, 
they  are  lamentably  hostile  to  a  decent  provision  for  the  minis- 
try. They  may  be  improved,  but  not  in  season  for  yow.  Time 
will  bleach  your  head,  and  death  gather  you  to  your  fathers, 
before  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  revolution.  Do  not  feed 
yourself  with  fallacious  hope.  The  talents  of  an  angel  cannot 
destroy  the  connexion  between  cause  and  effect.  Impressive 
novelty,  like  the  torpedo-eel,  may  benumb  for  a  moment  the 
sensations  of  avarice,  and  the  rough  arm  of  vulgarity,  but  when 
the  shock  is  spent,  the  reaction  will  be  as  strong  as  ever.  Du- 
ring the  interval,  large  promises,  honest  enough  at  the  time, 
may  entrap  the  unwary,  and  will  leave  him,  when  unfulfilled, 
to  mourn  without  sympathy;  to  remonstrate  without  effect;  or 


HEALTH  IN  THE  HEART.  365 

to  resist  through  a  tempest  of  hatred,  of  reproach,  and  of  per- 
secution. The  expedient  proposed  by  Mr.  Bishop  is  the  effu- 
sion of  a  generous  and  noble  heart.  It  is  worthy  of  his  mag- 
nanimity and  of  your  gratitude ;  yet  it  ought  not  to  be  accepted 
unless  forced  upon  you  by  an  act  of  God's  providence.  It  is 
but  temporary  at  best ;  and  a  thousand  accidents  may  happen 
during  the  limited  period,  to  render  it  a  source  of  vexation  and 
calamity  to  you  both. 

Do  not,  by  premature  haste,  lose  more  than  you  gain.  Tr}' 
if  more  cannot  be  ultimately  accomplished  for  the  West  by  the 
indirect  operation  of  your  labours  on  a  suitable  scale,  than  by 
their  direct  effects  on  a  scale  which  will  diminish  their  range 
and  cripple  their  activity.  We  must  not  lose,  but  guard  and 
fortify  what  we  have  already  won.  We  must  put  the  heart  into 
strong  action,  if  we  mean  to  promote  the  health  of  the  extrem- 
ities. It  is  here  in  this  city,  that  the  great  battle  is  to  be  fought. 
It  is  here  that  the  question  is  to  be  decided,  whether  a  fountain 
of  light  and  life  is  to  play  with  its  refreshing  power  over  our 
land,  or  whether  Death  is  to  walk  like  the  pestilence  in  dark- 
ness, and  to  multiply,  unseen,  his  hecatombs  of  victims.  It  is 
here  that  we  want  our  masculine  talent,  our  brawny  arms;  our 
Macedonian  phalanx  ;  our  Roman  discipline. 

My  kindest  regards  to  your  bosom  friend.  Blessings  from  the 
Father  of  Mercies  upon  that  little  one  whom  He  has  caused  to 
instruct  you  in  the  feelings  of  a  father's  heart.  And,  since  you 
have  seen  lit  to  put  my  memorial  upon  him,  may  the  God  who 
has  fed  me  all  my  life  long  unto  this  day — my  father's  God — 
the  Angel  who  redeemed  my  soul  out  of  trouble — bless  the  lad, 
and  render  him  a  father's  glory  and  a  mother's  joy. 

Ever  your  affectionate, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

1810—1811. 

PSALMODY,  COMMERCIAL   DISTRESS,   CHINESE 
MISSION,    ETC. 

Letter  from  E.  Clark.  Esq. — Letter  to  the  same — Letter  to  J.  Davenport,  Esq. 
— Letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Proudfit — Letter  to  Mrs.  E.  Sleight — Letter  to 
Mr.  E.  Mason,  Edinburgh — Letter  to  Mrs.  Brown — Letter  from  the  Rev.  R. 
Morrison,  Canton. 

The  subject  of  psalmody  was  one  whicli  deeply  affected  the 
interests  and  prospects  of  all  the  Scottish  churches  in  America. 
Under  the  force  of  their  new  circumstances,  it  was  impossible 
for  them  always  to  retain  those  particular  modes  of  praising 
God  which  they  had  brought  with  them  from  the  "  old  coun- 
tries." Their  mixture,  more  and  more  in  successive  genera- 
tions, with  Christians  of  different  origin,  could  not  possibly 
admit  of  a  permanent  separation  in  this  particular.  A  rigid 
adherence  to  established  customs  must  necessarily  doom  them 
to  an  ultimate  extinction.  The  Associate  Reformed  Church 
had  already  lost  a  whole  Presbytery.  Their  congregation  in 
Montreal  was  strongly  tending  in  the  same  direction.  In  every 
part  of  New  York,  where  there  was  not  a  very  preponderating 
Scotch  element  and  influence,  the  same  thing  was  visible.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  many  churches,  especially  in  the  far  West 
and  South,  the  subject  could  not  be  touched,  without  "  touch- 
ing the  apple  of  their  eye."  Habit,  custom,  antiquity,  religious 
prepossessions,  the  sweet  memories  of  their  "  father  land,"  the 
sacred  associations  of  ancestral  worship,  all  arrayed  themselves 
against  a  change ;  and  subsequent  events,  in  many  cases  and  in 
many  forms,  have  demonstrated  how  deep-rooted  was  the  pre- 
judice .to  be  encountered.  Under  such  circumstances,  though 
a  change  could  not  be  proposed  without  great  hazard,  it  had 


INCIPIENT  STEPS  AT  ARGYLE.  367 

yet  become  necessary.  This  necessity  was  well  understood  by 
Dr.  ^fason,  and  omens  in  its  favour  arising  in  an  unexpected 
quarter,  as  communicated  in  a  letter  from  a  very  intelligent 
Elder  of  Argyle,  in  the  county  of  Washington,  N.  Y.,  were 
gladly  received.  His  views  appear  without  disguise  in  the 
answer  which  he  returned.  Neither  the  letter  nor  the  answer 
will  be  read  with  indifference  by  those  who  understand  how 
certain  churches  are  affected  by  questions  of  this  nature  : — 

TO   THE    REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Aroyle,  March  12,  1810. 

Dear  Sir  :  Since  I  last  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  here 
I  have  frequently  reflected  on  the  subject  of  jisalniody.  The 
more  I  have  reflected,  the  more  have  I  become  convinced  that 
something  must  be  done.  Experience  has  taught  me,  that  any 
attempt  to  correct  existing  evils,  or  to  meliorate  our  condition, 
is  sure  to  meet  with  opposition  ;  and  first  of  all  from  those 
who,  though  within  the  pale  of  the  church,  are  indifferent  about 
her  best  interests  till  they  find  something  to  quarrel  about. 
Then  they  are  all  fire  and  zeal. 

In  order  to  bring  the  subject  before  the  people  and  to  awaken 
thought  and  inquiry,  as  well  as  to  take  from  the  back  of  the 
Synod  and  its  ministers  the  blame  of  novelty  or  defection,  in 
case  a  new  version  was  attempted,  I  thought  it  prudent  last 
fiill  to  introduce  the  subject,  by  way  of  conversation,  before  our 
Session.  Shortly  after  I  drew  up  a  petition,  addressed  to  the 
Presbytery,  requesting  them  to  petition  the  Synod  to  furnish 
the  church  with  a  metre  version  of  the  Scripture  Psalms, 
Hymns,  and  Songs,  adapted  to  the  present  condition  of  the 
church  and  the  improved  state  of  the  English  language.  This 
encountered  opposition,  but  not  to  the  extent  which  I  had 
feared.  Many  of  the  most  serious  and  judicious  were  in  favour 
of  the  design. 

Whether  the  petition  will  be  ready  in  time  with  a  competent 
number  of  signers,  to  be  presented  to  the  next  Synod,  I  know 
not.  But  my  principal  purpose  will  be  effected — that  of  getting 
the  people  to  discuss  the  subject,  and  be  prepared,  in  some 
measure,  for  what  the  Synod  may  deem  proper. 

I  sent  a  copy  of  the  petition  to  Salem,  where  it  was  generally 


368  NATIVE   HABITS  ABSORBING. 

well  received,  and  even  bj  the  oldest  members  of  that  Session. 
I  also  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  the  Kev.  James  Mairs ;  and  he  re- 
ceived it  at  a  time  when  Mr.  McCauley,  Mr.  Wilson,  and  Mr. 
E.  Poudfit,  were  at  his  house.  He  wrote  me  that  they  all  con- 
curred in  the  design  cordially.  All  the  ministers  whom  I  have 
seen  concur ;  but  the  people  must  be  waited  upon. 

My  intention  in  writing  you  now  is  to  obtain  your  opinion 
on  the  expediency  of  circulating  the  petition  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  two  Presbyteries  here.  Mr.  G.  Mairs  has  suggested  the 
thought  of  having  a  few  copies  printed,  so  that  the  people 
might  have  it  more  extensively  in  their  hands.  Before  this  is 
done,  I  would  wish  your  correcting  hand  to  pass  upon  it. 
Please  to  give  me,  by  mail,  your  views  on  the  whole  subject. 
Most  affectionately,  I  am  yours, 

EBEN.   CLARK. 

TO  E.   CLAKK,  Esq. 

New  York,  23d  March,  1810. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  Two  days  ago  I  received  your  interesting 
letter  of  the  12th  inst.  The  subject  of  an  improved  version  of 
psalmody  has  long  occupied  my  thoughts,  athough,  until  very 
lately,  I  have  spoken  of  it  with  reserve.  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  the  decisive  moment  is  at  hand  when  we  must  make  our 
election  between  the  adoption  of  this  measure,  and  the  ruin  of 
our  churches  from  Montreal  to  "Washington.  Our  present 
version  is,  in  every  direction,  the  great  obstacle  to  our  progress. 
It  hangs  with  the  weight  of  a  mill-stone  round  our  necks,  and 
we  must  either  get  rid  of  the  mill-stone,  or  go  with  it  to  the 
bottom.  The  crisis  is  just  before  us;  and  it  is  the  part  of  wise 
men  to  anticipate  its  approach.  Generally^  we  must  Americanize 
our  churches ;  that  is,  must  adapt  the  great  and  immoveable 
principles  of  church  order  to  the  circumstances  of  our  own 
country.  Native  habits  will  swallow  up  foreign  habits,  as  in- 
fallibly as  national  language  swallows  up  a  foreign  one.  We 
have  nothing  before  us  but  to  assimilate,  in  prudential  arrange- 
ments, to  these  habits,  or  to  be  swept  away.  I  have  not  now 
leisure  to  enter  upon  a  calculation  of  the  probable  results. 
They  have  long  ago  passed  through  my  mind,  and  cannot,  I 
believe,  be  otherwise  than  favourable.  I  should  like  to  con- 
verse with  you  at  length  on  the  subject:  and  am  particularly 


RESOLUTION   0^   PSALMODY.  369 

solicitous  that  you  should  attend  both  the  particular  and  gene- 
ral Synods  in  May.  It  is  of  moment  that  on  a  question  of  this 
sort  a  right  decision  should  be  given  by  old-country  delegates. 
I  pray  you  not  to  disappoint  us,  as  you  did  last  year.  In 
the  mean  time  lam  glad  the  business  is  started.  Go  on.  Let 
it  come  before  the  particular  Synod  at  Newburgh.  Our  Pres- 
bytery, I  imagine,  will  be  unanimous.  If  it  come  before  the 
General  Synod  in  the  shape  of  an  overture  from  the  Synod  of 
New  York,  it  will  make  a  deep  impression.  I  have  been  mus- 
ing on  the  proper  way  of  .starting  it,  when  your  letter  announced 
its  actual  commencement  among  the  i^eople.  This  is  the  best 
possible  mode.  It  would  not  do  for  me  to  put  my  hand  to  the 
petition.  The  patching  might  be  detected,  and  would  create 
suspicion  where  there  is  in  reality  no  cause  for  it.  The  plainer 
the  representation  the  better.  It  will  bear  internal  marks  of  its 
having  been,  bona  Jide,  a  thing  of  the  people;  which,  in  this 
case,  is  of  the  first  utility. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  much  respect,  yours,  &.c. 

J.   M.   MASON. 

As  might  have  been  anticipated  from  the  preceding  corres- 
pondence, the  subject  of  Psalmody  was  brought  before  the  next 
Synod;  a  judicious  report  on  it  was  prepared,  and  the  follow- 
ing resolution  unanimously  adopted  : — 

"Resolved,  That  Drs.  Mason  and  Gray,  with  ]\[essrs.  JohnX. 
Clark,  James  M.  Mathews,  and  Alexander  Proudfit,  be  and 
liereby  are  appointed  a  Committee  to  procure  an  improved  ver- 
sion of  scriptural  psalmody;  and  to  have  the  same  in  readiness 
for  such  order  as  the  General  Synod  shall  sec  meet  to  take  at 
the  next  stated  meeting." 

At  this  Synod,  the  Board  of  Superintendents  reported  nine- 
teen students,  and  declared  themselves  "  hi.tihly  gratified  with 
the  result  of  their  examination  on  the  different  branches  of 
study  prescribed  in  the  plan  of  the  Seminary." 

At  the  same  meeting,  Dr.  Mason's  "  Letter  on  Ministers' 
Salaries,"  which  is  found  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  printed 
works,  was,  with  little  alteration,  adopted  by  the  Synod. 


24 


370  DEATH   OF  A  DAUGHTEE. 

DR.  M.  TO  THE  HON.  J.  DAVENPORT,  CONNECTICUT. 

New  Yoek,  16th  Feb.  1810. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Some  of  the  most  grateful  hours  of  my  life 
have  been  spent  in  the  bosom  of  your  amiable  and  interesting 
family.  I  have  often  mentioned  it  as  one  upon  which  the 
Father  of  mercies  has  shed  down  in  a  very  observable  manner, 
the  spirit  of  peace,  of  kindness,  and  of  domestic  love  ;  and  what 
is  still  better,  the  spirit  of  his  grace.  Yes,  dear  Sir,  I  have 
rejoiced  in  your  joy,  with  strong  although  silent  emotion,  in 
beholding  your  order  and  your  happiness.  And  now,  that  it 
has  pleased  the  same  Father  of  mercies  to  call  you  to  mourn 
over  an  affecting  breach  in  your  family  circle,  allow  me  the 
privilege  of  mingling  my  tears  with  theirs.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  to  blunt  the  affections,  or  to  stifle 
the  voice  of  nature.  Jesus  wej)t ;  and  so  may  we.  He  has 
consecrated  the  throes  of  the  heart  under  sore  privations;  and 
while  he  has  not  forbidden  us  to  testify  how  dear  his  gifts  were 
to  us  by  our  grief  at  losing  them,  he  has  furnished  us  with  the 
firmest  supports,  and  the  richest  consolations,  under  the  weight 
and  ano;uish  of  our  bereavements.  It  is  in  the  hour  of  sorrow 
that  his  blessed  Gospel  comes  home  to  the  bosom  with  blessings 
redoubled.  Do  you  not  find  it  to  be  so  ?  Yes,  I  know  you 
have  found,  and  still  find  it.  Your  Theodosia  is  removed — 
"not  lost,"  however,  but  "gone  before;"  and  in  the  midst  of 
dying  comforts,  you  learn  more  powerfully  the  sweetness  of 
that  triumph,  "I  know  that  ni}-  Redeemer  liveth P''  Such  an 
assurance  is  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances  of  misfor- 
tune, a  refuge  for  the  labouring  spirit  of  which  no  man  can  con- 
jecture the  solace  who  has  not  tried  it.  Uad  your  beloved 
daughter  left  you  in  a  way  and  with  prospects  infinitely  less 
soothing  than  she  did,  it  would  still  have  been  to  you  a  living 
source  of  acquiescence  and  of  refreshment — that  the  God  of 
salvation  is  your  God.  But,  my  friend,  how  unutterably  de- 
lightful, how  divinely  elevating,  the  thought,  the  hope,  the  un- 
wavering confidence,  that  she  has  exchanged  your  society  for 
the  society  of  the  spirits  of  the  just,  of  the  holy  ones  who  min- 
istered to  her  even  here  for  their  society  in  the  presence,  the 
fruition,  and  the  glory  of  that  God  of  Salvation!     Gone?  Yes, 


DEATH   OF   A   DAUGHTER.  371 

gone.  But  whither?  Even  to  that  abode  to  which  we  expect 
in  due  season  to  follow  her !  To  that  one  friend  whom  our 
souls  love,  who  has  tasted  of  death,  and  extracted  with  his 
own  blessed  lips  all  its  bitterness  before  he  allowed  it  to  touch 
the  lips  of  your  departed  daughter — to  Jesus,  "  the  Kesurrection 
and  the  Life!"  He  had  higher  claims  to  your  Theodosia  than 
the  claims  of  a  father's  wishes,  or  a  mother's  bowels — the  claim 
of  his  ransoming  blood.  lie  has  asserted  his  claims  in  your  late 
affliction.  "  Father,"  is  his  authoritative  prayer,  "  Father,  1 
WILL  that  those  whom  thou  hast  given  mc,  be  with  me  where  I 
am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory,"  It  is  an  answer  to  this 
prayer  which  has  carried  your  Theodosia  to  Heaven.  Surely, 
surely,  you  do  not,  you  cannot,  permit  a  single  pulsation  of 
your  heart  to  be  polluted  with  a  murmur.  The  mercy  of  her 
"dying  in  foith,"  is  so  great,  so  paramount  a  favour,  that  the 
pain  of  separation,  and  the  vacancy  created  by  her  absence,  do 
not  deserve  a  mention — especially  when  you  consider  that  you 
shall  see  her  again.  But  how,  how  shall  you  see  her  ?  In  that 
reduced  and  emaciated  form  which  you  consigned  to  the  puri- 
fied grave  ?  No  !  Her  "  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality  :"  her 
"corruption,  incorruption  !"  You  shall  see  her  in  the  alert- 
ness, the  vigour,  the  resplendent  beauty  of  that  mysterious 
transformation  which  shall  clothe  her  with  a  spiritual  body  over 
which  Death  shall  have  no  power.  Come,  my  Christian  friend, 
with  your  sorrowing  consort  and  children,  dry  up  your  tears, 
and  sing  of  that  mercy  which  has  afforded  you  such  abundant 
cause  of  joy  in  this  tribulation  !  It  is  ours  to  be  ready  and  be 
watchful.  May  the  compassions,  the  tender  compassions  of  the 
Lord  our  God,  bind  up  your  broken  hearts  ;  sanctify  to  all  of 
you  the  rod  of  correction,  and  teach  you  to  kiss  the  gracious 
hand  which  applies  it.  It  is  a  rod  from  the  tree  of  life,  in  the 
hand  of  the  Prince  of  life  :  and  applied  for  the  furtherance  of  our 
meetncss  for  eternal  life.  Assure  Mrs.  D.  and  your  family  of 
my  sympathy,  and  believe  me  to  be  with  much  regard,  your 
friend  in  that  Beloved. 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  following  note  shows  in  what  spirit  Dr.  Mason  received 
a  young  minister,  whose  labours  in  New  York  have  not  disap- 
pointed the  anticipations  of  his  most  sanguine  friends: — 


372  A  YOUNG  MINISTER  WELCOMED. 

DR.  M.  TO  THE    EEY.  DR.  PEOUDFIT. 

New  York,  Aug.  13,  1810. 

My  Dear  Brother:  The  Eev.  Mr.  S.  handed  me  your 
letter  from  Andover  of  the  11th  July,  this  morning.  I  shall 
take  pleasure  in  befriending  and  encouraging  so  promising  a 
young  servant  of  our  common  Lord  as  that  gentleman  is  repre- 
sented to  be.  He  was  ordained  to  his  charge  in  the  brick 
church  last  Wednesday.  I  have  long  been  of  opinion  that 
Christianity  gains  nothing  by  the  distance  which  has  been  kept 
up  between  those  who  have  obtained  "like  precious  faith."  I 
wish  that  much  of  our  zeal,  not  excluding  our  own  body,  may 
not  turn  out  to  be  zeal  for  party  instead  of  purity,  and  some 
portion  of  our  structure  may  not  be  wood  and  stubble  rather 
than  gold  and  precious  stones.  I  think,  however,  that  the  spirit 
of  religious  faction  is  gradually  wearing  away.  I  rejoice  to  see 
it,  and  shall  cheerfully  help  on,  pro  modulo  7neo,  so  desirable  a 
consummation.  Yours  affectionately, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

DR.  M.  TO    MRS.  E.  SLEIGHT,  NEWBURGH. 

New  York,  9th  Oct.,  1810. 

My  Dear  Madam  :  I  received  on  the  Lord's  day  the  melan- 
choly tidings  which  confirmed  all  the  apprehensions  of  your 
friends  respecting  your  dear  boy.  On  this  singularly  afflicting 
dispensation,  permit  me  to  mingle  my  sorrows  with  yours.  A 
mother's  heart,  I  know,  has  tendernesses  which  belong  to  no 
other;  and  of  the  loss  of  an  only  and  most  promising  child, 
none  can  conjecture  the  pain  but  those  who  have  felt  it.  I 
write  not  to  infuse  fresh  bitterness  into  your  cup.  Your  own 
bosom,  alas,  is  full,  is  overflowing.  I  would  fain  draw  you 
from  the  agonizing  contemplation  of  what  you  once  had,  to  the 
supporting  contemplation  of  what  you  still  have.  Far  be  it 
from  my  endeavours  or  my  wishes  to  arrest  the  yearnings  of  pa- 
rental bowels.  There  is  nothing  in  Christianity  to  chide,  far 
less  to  stifle,  the  emotions  of  nature.  Tears  are  a  gracious  re- 
lief to  the  bursting  heart ;  let  them  flow  ;  and  blessings  on  them 
as  they  flow.  Our  Lord  Jesus  wept ;  He  has  consecrated  our 
tears;  and  we,  too,  will  weep,  when  He  gives  us  such  abundant 


DEATH   OF  A   FAVOURITE  CHILD.  373 

reason.     Our  friend,  our  flither,  our  Heavenly  Father,  has  done 
it ;  and  lie  has  reasons  for  it  which,  if  He  thought  fit  to  explain 
them,  would  satisfy  even  ourselves.     He  bids  you  and  your 
mourning  husband  to  look  at  His  hand  in  this  bereavement. 
There  will  be,  there  can  be,  no  solid  consolation,  till  your 
spirits  bow  before  His  sovereignty  and  confess  that  He  doeth 
all  things  well.     It  is  then,  and  then  only,  that  our  painful 
wounds  are  bound  up,  when  we  have  recourse  to  the  Holy  One 
who  has  smitten  us.     Surely  your  heart  has   this   recourse. 
Surely,  you  find  him  your  "refuge  and  your  strength,  a  very 
jnesent  help  in  trouble."     Ah,  my  grieving  friend,  what  would 
be  your  situation  if  you  had  no  reconciled  God  to  whom  you 
could  pour  out  your  moan  ?     The  world,  with  all  its  promises, 
has  no  prescription  for  a  broken  heart.     How  deej)  the  shade, 
which  in  this  hour  of  woe,  passes  over  and  rests  upon  its  glo- 
ries!    How  insipid  the  enjoyments  for  which  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  gaiety  unceasingly  pant!     Now  is  the  time  for 
trying  what  your  religion  is  made  of.     Now,  your  Lord  is  put- 
ting your  love  to  the  test !     Is  asking,  in  a  way  awfully  intelli- 
gible, whether  you  believe  in  His  goodness  when  He  sends  upon 
you  one  of  those  calamities  from  which  in  a  particular  manner 
your  soul  shrinks?     You  have  often  given   up  your  son  to 
Him,  and  He  has  taken  you  at  your  word.     "There  he  lies,'' 
said  good  old  Fenelon,  of  his  beloved  pupil,  the  Dauphin  of 
France,  "there  he  lies,  and  with  him  all  my  earthly  hope;  but 
if  the  moving  of  a  straw  could  bring  him  back,  without  the  will 
of  my  Father  in  Heaven,  I  would  not  be  the  mover  of  that  straw 
for  a  thousand  worlds."     Was  not  this  as  it  became  a  believer 
in  Christ?     Can  your  heart  go  along  with  the  unmurmuring 
sufferer,  and  apply  his  declaration  to  your  departed  Hugh  ?     It 
is  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  that  enables  us  to  glory  in  tribula^ 
tion.     lie  has  some  end  to  answer,  for  which  you  will  yet  praise 
Him.     In  the  mean  time,  He  is  left;  and  none  can  be  poor  or 
substantially  miserable  who  have  Him  as  their  portion.     You 
cannot,  I  think,  either  you  or  your  husband,  forget  tins  lesson, 
that  nothing  which  can  die  is  a  suitable  portion  for  an  immortal 
soul.     You  believe  it.     You  have  chosen,  I  trust,  as  your  por- 
tion, the  Remrredion  and  the  Life.     Hushed,  then,  be  thy  tu- 
mults; moderate  thy  griefs — the  darkness  breaks  away — the 


374  CHANGE   OF   FEELING. 

light  of  the  morning  begins  to  dawn.  Sweet  and  cheering,  and 
not  unknown  to  thee,  is  that  blessed  voice,  "  Call  upon  me  in 
the  day  of  trouble,  and  I  will  answer  thee."  Let  the  rod  drive 
thee  to  the  mercy  seat — to  the  fulness  of  grace  and  truth  in  our 
ascended  Redeemer — to  that  holy  and  victorious  hope  which 
shall  survive  our  sorrows,  and  triumph,  even  over  Death.  It 
is  but  a  little  while,  and  our  Lord  "shall  perfect  that  which 
concerneth  us."  Our  business  is  to  watch,  and  look  up  ;  "  For 
our  Redemption  draweth  nigh."  Our  God  has  promised,  that  "  all 
things  shall  work  together  for  sfood  to  them  that  love  Him." 
"  He  is  faithful  that  promised."  Say  to  Him,  "  Do  as  thou  hast 
■sa/cZ."  And  He  will  enable  you  to  acknowledge,  "I  know,  O 
Lord,  that  thy  judgments  are  just,  and  that  m  faithfulness  thou 
hast  afflicted  me."  My  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  Him  is  that 
He  would  support  you  "  with  the  right  hand  of  his  righteous- 
ness ;"  and  comfort  with  His  "  consolations  which  are  neither 
few  nor  small."  "  Die  who  Avill,"  said  a  Christian  parent,  as  he 
committed  to  the  grave  the  last  tivo  of  a  flourishing  family,  who 
had  all  grown  up,  and  were  all  suddenly  cut  down,  "Die  who 
will,  the  Lord  lives !  Blessed  be  my  Rock !  the  God  of  my  sal- 
vation be  praised!"  It  is  ivell.  Yes,  it  is  well!  Your  God,  I 
hope,  will  make  you  feel  it  to  be  so ;  and  will  speedily  turn  the 
shadow  of  death  into  the  morning. 

I  am,  my  dear  Madam,  yours,  &c.,  sincerely. 

J.  M.  MASON. 

In  the  progress  of  events  Dr.  Mason  very  considerably 
changed  his  opinions  respecting  those  two  countries  of  Europe 
with  which  our  own  has  its  most  important  relations — England 
and  France.  The  causes  of  this  change  are  given  by  himself  in  a 
letter  to  his  uncle  of  Dec.  1st,  1810 :  "  Our  redoubtable  em- 
bargo seems  to  have  suspended  the  operations  of  friendship 
along  with  those  of  commerce.  Do  not  judge  me  too  harshly 
'even  if  I  scorn  to  have  participated  in  the  benumbing  influence 
of  our  political  palsy.  Silence  is  not  forgetfulncss,  although 
forgetfulncss  is  silent.  Had  my  pen  been  as  busy  as  my  ima- 
gination, the  postage  of  my  letters  would  have  devoured  a  for- 
tune. My  spirit  has  been  with  you  in  all  your  trials  ;  my  heart 
shares  in  your  losses ;  I  hope  it  shares  in  your  consolations 


COMMERCIAL   DISTRESS.  875 

also.  Would  that  we  could  yet  see  each  other  in  the  land  of 
our  pilgrimage  !  Nothing  but  my  public  engagements  hinders 
my  enjoyment  of  that  blessing.  My  bosom  yearns,  with  in- 
creased longing,  to  visit  once  more  the  natal  soil  of  ray  father ; 
the  house  of  an  uncle  who  was  in  the  place  of  a  father ;  and 
friends  who,  if  anything  earthly,  would  cause  me  to  forget  my 
kindred  elsewhere,  and  my  father's  house.  My  mind  has  un- 
dergone in  the  course  of  fifteen  years  an  absolute  revolution  in 
its  feelings  toward  Great  Britain.  Formerly,  through  the 
power  of  resentments  and  prejudices  growing  out  of  the  war,  I 
disliked  her  almost  to  hatred.  General  reasoning,  combined 
with  facts  which  appealed  to  my  heart,  taught  me  to  respect 
her.  Iler  firmness  and  dignity,  in  her  glorious  struggle  for  all 
that  is  valuable  to  man,  have  filled  me  with  veneration  ;  and 
her  unexampled  efforts  to  diffuse  the  light  of  life  among  the 
dying  nations,  attract  my  love.  Eternal  blessings  on  the  abode 
of  sober  and  gallant  liberty  !  on  the  spot  where  the  tabernacle 
of  God  condescends,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  to  dwell  with  men  ! 

"  In  the  negotiations  of  1800,  Mr.  Erskine  was  undoubt- 
edly the  dupe  of  our  cabinet.  They  are  now,  in  turn,  the  dupe 
of  France.  We  have  no  prospect  but  that  of  a  renewal  of  non- 
intercourse  with  Great  Britain  in  consequence  of  the  insidious 
declarations  of  Bonaparte  about  the  repeal  of  the  Berlin  and 
Milan  Decrees.  Your  old  foxes  understand  the  trap,  and  avoid 
it.  Our  young  ones,  less  shy,  have  been  caught.  It  will  be 
far  better  with  them  than  they  have  any  right  to  expect,  if  they 
get  a  little  wisdom  at  the  expense  of  losing  their  tails." 

A  few  weeks  later,  viz.,  26th  Jan.  1811,  he  thus  describes  the 
commercial  embarrassment  of  New  York  :  "  The  city  pre- 
sents a  melancholy  spectacle.  All  is  confusion,  consternation 
and  dismay.  The  best  and  firmest  houses  fi\ll  in  rapid  succes- 
sion. Confidence  is  gone.  No  one  trusts  his  neighbour.  No 
one  can  tell  who  is  to  sink  next.  The  man  who  counts  himself 
affluent  at  breakfast,  dees  not  know  whether  he  shall  not  be  a 
bankrupt  before  dinner.  An  universal  crash  is  looked  for. 
Whether  the  Insurance  Companies,  or  the  Banks  themselves, 
shall  weatiier  the  gale,  no  mortal  can  tell." 

On  the  12th  April  following  he  writes  to  his  uncle:  "Our 
Seminary  goes  on  in  usefulness  and  reputation.  It  now  wants 


876  A  VISIT  FROir  mrs.  browjst. 

little  but  funds.  In  a  few  weeks  it  will  be  in  debt  to  the 
Treasurer  £450  sterling.  The  grudge  with  which  most  men 
part  with  a  little  pittance  for  the  noblest  purposes,  is  astonish- 
ing and  humiliating.  Mammon,  Mammon,  is  the  god  of  the 
professing  world  among  us.  The  love  of  distinction  flows  in 
the  channels  of  wealth,  and  thus  creates  an  aristocracy,  the 
most  feeble  and  enfeebling,  the  most  corrupt  and  corrupting, 
the  most  slavish  and  enslaving  of  all  aristocracies — the  aristo- 
cracy of  Dollars.  Hence  the  passion  for  lucre  is  the  passion  of 
the  United  States.  Men  measure  their  respectability  not  by 
their  deeds  of  goodness,  but  by  the  sums  of  which  they  are 
masters.  In  Massachusetts  there  are  noble  exceptions.  Seve- 
ral individuals  have  given  from  10,000  to  40,000  dollars  each,  to  a 
Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  twenty  miles  north  of  Boston- 
With  us  there  is  nothing  which  bears  the  most  distant  resem- 
blance to  this  munificence." 

Even  princes  cannot  always  appear  in  state.  If  a  great  mon- 
arch could  once  excuse  himself  to  an  ambassador  at  his  court, 
when  caught  mingling  on  the  floor  in  the  sports  of  his  children, 
by  an  appeal  to  his  parental  feelings,  we  need  not  apologize  for 
presenting  a  family  scene  in  which  a  fond  parent  appears  in  all 
the  unsophisticated  simplicity  of  nature.  Certainly  no  one 
ever  took  greater  satisfaction  in  occasionally  unbending  and 
relaxing  among  the  exuberant  spirits  of  his  happy  children, 
than  Dr.  Mason ;  and  in  no  circle  of  family  connexions  were 
there  ever  stronger  feelings  of  affection.  Unexpectedly  he  had 
received  a  letter  from  his  beloved  and  honoured  sister,  Mrs. 
Brown,  from  whom  he  had  been  long  and  far  separated,  an- 
nouncing her  intention  to  come  with  two  of  her  children  to 
spend  the  winter  in  New  York.  The  jo}'^  which  the  tidings 
brought  into  his  house  he  thus  describes  : — 

DR.  M.  TO  MRS.  M.  BROWN. 

MixETTO,  Near  Grkknwicii,  2(1  Oct.,  1810. 

My  Dear  Sister  :  You  might  well  anticipate  the  pleasure 
which  your  letter  of  the  8th  ult.  was  calculated  to  give  us. 
The  intelligence  of  your  intended  visit  was  so  unexpected,  that 
the  hope  of  embracing  you  and  the  dear  little  ones  under  our 
roof,  after  your  absence  of  more  than  ten  years,  was  almost  too 


THE   CHINA   MISSION,  377 

powerful  in  its  joy.  I  handed  the  letter  to  Nancy,  after  pre- 
})aring  her  by  the  exclamation  of  News !  News  !  Her  curiosity 
was  only  awake  in  expecting  some  not  ver}''  uncommon  family 
occurrence.  But  when  she  got  to  the  second  sentence,  she 
turned  pale,  her  heart  swelled  and  she  obtained  relief  in  a  flood 
of  tears.  As  soon  as  she  was  sufficiently  composed  to  proceed, 
a  fresh  Hood  followed  the  notice  of  your  boy  and  girl.  Ilaving 
recovered  her  tranquillity,  it  became  the  children's  turn.  Their 
raptures  were  of  a  more  boisterous  sort.  Snapping  fingers, 
skipping,  dancing,  talking  loud  all  together — at  least  the  boys — 
and  disputing,  almost  crying,  about  having  Mason  for  a  bed- 
fellow. But  why  could  you  not  bring  Orlando  ?  And  let  us 
round  ofT  the  ten  young  "elephants"  around  the  table?  I 
shall  certainly,  if  a  kind  Providence  allow,  meet  you  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Our  love  to  Mr.  Brown  and  the  children.  Mamma  is  well. 
Nancy  as  usual.  The  little  ones  (some  of  them  pretty  hig  little 
ones),  in  high  health  and  spirits.  The  God  of  our  father  bless 
my  sister,  and  conduct  her  with  comfort  to  the  abode  and  the 

bosom  of  her  affectionate  brother ! 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  man  who  has  opened  the  fountain  of  knowledge  and 
salvation  to  a  nation  of  300,000,000,  in  their  successive  genera- 
tions, can  never  fail  of  being  regarded  as  an  object  of  sublime  in- 
terest. The  obstacles  and  discouragements  which  he  encountered 
in  pursuing  his  end,  cannot  diminish  that  interest.  The  faith 
which  imparts  sufficient  energy  for  struggling  through  such  diffi- 
culties and  for  finally  accomplishing  the  great  result,  must  be 
admitted  to  be  a  mighty  principle.  Considerations  of  this  sort 
must  forever  secure  a  respectful  attention  to  the  communica* 
tions  of  the  first  evangelical  missionary  from  England  to  China. 
The  following  letter  moreover  presents  a  fair  picture  of  the 
Heathen  mind,  not  only  in  China  but  in  other  regions  of  the 
East  :— 

TO   THE   REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Canton,  November  lOth,  IFiOO. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  I  was  favoured  by  yours  of  May  18th, 
1809,  on  the  arrival  of  the  ship  Trident  at  this  place.     By  the 


378  PAGAIT  INDIFFERENCE. 

same  conve3^ance  I  received  six  Magazines,  for  which  I  beg 
leave  to  return  you  my  most  cordial  thanks.  In  this  distant 
land,  separated  from  the  society  of  God's  people — without  the 
comfortable  and  quickening  exercises  of  social  worship,  letters 
and  religious  publications  are  more  interesting  and  beneficia  1 
than  Ministers  and  Christians  seem  aware  of  To  perceive  the 
truth  of  this,  I  am  persuaded  that  it  is  enough  to  mention  it. 

As  yet,  I  have  none  from  amongst  the  heathen  who  take 
part  with  me  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  Gospel.  They  are 
sometimes  brought  to  acknowledge  the  truth  of  what  I  say,  but 
remain  careless.  It  is  rarely  that  I  can  bring  them  to  be  serious. 
Their  own  superstitions  sit  remarkably  light  upon  their  minds. 
Whenever  they  speak  of  their  rites  or  opinions,  the  smile  of 
levity  and  ridicule  is  upon  their  countenance.  They  manifest 
strongly,  the  desirableness  and  necessity  of  a  Revelation.  They 
cannot  rid  themselves  of  the  idea  of  an  hereafter — of  rewards 
and  punishments,  but  I  have  not  seen  an  instance  of  a  serious 
and  powerful  conviction  of  the  truth  of  those  things.  There  is 
doubt  and  uncertainty  predominant  in  their  minds,  which  pre- 
vent their  notions  from  having  much  influence  on  their  moral 
conduct. 

Kung-fu-tsi  (Confucius)  does  not  bring  the  sanction  of  future 
rewards  and  punishments,  to  give  weight  to  his  precepts.  Good 
or  bad  fame,  prosperity  or  adversity  in  the  present  life,  are  the 
strongest  sanctions  which  I  have  found  in  his  books.  Those 
with  whom  I  converse,  have  frequently  said  that  good  or  bad  fame 
were  their  highest  considerations.  Yet  they  acknowledge  that 
Heaven  (by  which  they  express  some  crude  idea  of  superior 
powers),  does  not  pass  unnoticed  the  crimes  of  men.  It  was 
urged — "  You  must  know  that  many  whose  names  are  buried 
in  the  deepest  obscurity,  have  been  guilty  of  the  most  heinous 
crimes — of  murder,  &c. ;  is  it  then  to  you  credible  that  Heaven 
has  no  means  of  punishing  them?"  By  this  they  were  silenced. 

So  of  an  atonement,  which  they  think  unnecessar}',  (because 
Confucius  has  said  nothing  about  it),  they  acknowledged  that 
it  might  be  requisite  for  heinous  offenders,  but  not  so  in  com- 
mon cases. 

A  general  prejudice  by  which  they  ward  off  every  new 
truth,  is,  that  it  is  incredible  we  should  know  better  than  they 


ATTAINMENTS  IN  THE   LANGUAGE.  379 

do,  since  they  arc  much  more  ancient,  wise,  and  polished,  than 
we  are. 

I  was  made  to  rejoice  when  I  heard  that  brothers  Gordon 
and  Lee  had  been  employed  in  America ;  and  more  when  I 
heard  that  they  were  proceeding  to  the  station  appointed  for 
them.  Report  leads  me  to  suppose  that  their  reception  in 
India  will  not  be  favourable.  But  we  trust  in  the  Lord,  and 
"  go  forward." 

My  labours  have  hitherto  and  will  yet  be  only  those  of  the 
student  of  language.  My  application  to  the  language  of  this 
country  has  been  unremitted,  and  I  have  made  some  progress. 
The  difliculties,  you  know,  are  many  ;  and  the  impossibility  of 
obtaining  the  best  assistance  is  not  the  least.  I  have  for  the 
last  ten  months  fulfilled  the  duties  of  Chinese  translator  to  the 
Ilonourable  Company's  servants  here.  This  for  the  present 
secures  my  stay,  affords  me  support,  and  does  not  hinder  my 
application  to  the  language,  but  makes  it  still  more  a  duty.  It 
is  all  in  the  way  of  my  great  object.  And  my  beloved  Mary 
and  myself  look  upon  it  as  a  gracious  interposition  of  Provi- 
dence in  our  behalf  We  have  both  of  us  been  indisposed,  and 
yet  continue  to  be  so.  Yet  our  hope  is  in  the  Lord  ;  that 
whether  we  do  or  suffer  his  will,  he  may  be  glorified. 

This  Province  is  at  present  infested  by  a  fleet  of  pirates,, 
W'hose  force  is  very  great,  and  who  put  to  defiance  the  establish- 
ed government.  They  have  made  some  underhand  application 
to  the  English  against  the  pirates.  The  English,  however, 
decline  interfering  unless  the  Viceroy  comes  forward  and  makes 
the  request. 

I  sometimes  converse  with  converts  from  amongst  the  Chi- 
nese to  the  Romish  communion.  Their  ignorance  is  lamentable. 
Some  of  them  do  not  know  of  the  existence  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures.  The  Mass-book  is  in  their  hands,  collections  of 
pretended  miracles,  and  legendary  tales.  In  talking]with  them, 
I  feel  the  want  of  the  "Law  and  the  Testimony,"  to  which  to 
refer  them  to  convince  them  of  the  errors  of  prayers  to  holy 
men  and  holy  women,  which  they  have  in  great  abundance. 

The  Romish  Priests  at  Macao  have  forbidden  their  converts, 
to  have  any  fellowship  with  me,  or  to  teach  me  the  language. 


380  GENEROUS  FEELINGS. 

In  Macao,  therefore,  I  do  not  see  any  of  them,  but  here  in 
Canton,  they  sometimes  call  on  me. 

The  Heathen  consider  the  Romish  ceremonies  as  the  counter- 
part of  the  sect  of  Fo6. 

Committing  you  to  the  all-sufficient  Redeemer  for  the  supply 
of  all  your  need, 

I  remain  yours  in  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

And  in  the  hope  of  eternal  life  through  him. 

E.  MORRISON. 

The  generosity  of  Dr.  Mason's  heart  was  manifested  on  many 
occasions.  His  regard  for  money  was  small  indeed  in  compari- 
son with  his  regard  for  objects  of  public  utility,  or  of  charity. 
The  ardour  of  his  feelings  sometimes  prevented  due  discrimi- 
nation, and  almost  blinded  him  to  the  inconveniences  to  which 
he  himself  would  be  subjected  by  the  free  indulgence  of  them. 
In  one  instance,  during  the  present  year,  in  order  to  relieve  a 
minister  who  was  in  debt  to  the  amount  of  $1700,  he  offered  to 
assume  $700  of  it,  if  a  certain  relative  of  the  minister,  who 
could  better  afford  it,  would  assume  the  remainder.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  the  offer  was  declined ;  and  it  may 
well  have  been,  for  sufficient  reasons. 

Further  indications  of  his  generous  disposition  maybe  seen 
in  a  letter  from  one  who  had  shared  its  fruits.  A  short  extract 
follows : — 

"  My  Yery  Dear  Friend  :  I  have  taken  up  the  pen  to  ac- 
knowledge your  last  favour,  but  confess  I  am  at  a  loss  for  ex- 
pression to  convey  the  sentiments  that  favour  excited.  My 
heart  has  long  owned  you  as  a  friend,  who,  like  the  blessed 
Master  you  serve  and  imitate,  '  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother,' 
and  whose  active  friendship  has  sought  out,  and  kindly  im- 
proved man 3^  occasions  of  affording  me  comfort  or  pleasure. 
Many  instances  of  affectionate  solicitude  for  my  welfare  (by 
you,  perhaps,  forgotten),  are  to  me  the  subject  of  frequent 
pleasing  recollections;  and  the  important  benefit  I  have  of  late 
derived  from  your  kindness,  proves  a  source  of  grateful  feeling, 
which  I  have  never  been  able  sufficiently  to  express.  But  this 
new  instance  leaves  me  quite  a  bankrupt  in  acknowledgment. 


GRATITUDE.  381 

I  can  only  love  and  bless  3'on  for  your  care  and  goodness.  I 
would  thank  you,  too,  for  the  pleasure  afforded  me  by  your 
assurance,  that  affection  as  well  as  principle  suggested  the 
kindness.  To  one,  who  like  me,  feels  the  consciousness  of 
having  but  small  claims  on  the  regard  of  others,  it  is  a  peculiar 
satisfaction  to  contemplate  the  partial  relative  in  the  liberal 
benefactor." 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 

1811—1812. 

INTERCOMMUNION,    ETC. 

Tlie  question  introduced  into  the  Synod — A  Committee  appointed — Their  Re- 
port— Dr.  Mason's  Speech — Dissatisfaction  in  Kentucky — A  Special  Meeting 
of  the  Scioto  Synod — Its  injurious  Influence — Tuscarora  Mission — Letter  to 
the  Rev.  W.  McMurray. 

A  SUBJECT,  wliich  in  some  of  its  aspects  has  occupied  a  previous 
chapter,  was,  in  another  form  and  other  connexions,  introduced 
into  the  General  Synod  meeting  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  Spring 
of  1811.  Information  was  communicated  respecting  an  inci- 
dent which  had  made  a  great  sensation  throughout  the  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  Church,  and  far  beyond  it.  As  it  created  some- 
thing of  an  era  in  the  history  of  various  denominations,  was 
followed  by  very  important  and  lasting  effects — and  as  it  proved 
the  occasion  of  one  of  Dr.  Mason's  best  publications — it  deserves 
to  be  given  in  detail.  The  whole  subject  cannot  be  better  pre- 
sented than  in  the  following  extracts  from  the  minutes: — 

"  It  was  moved  by  Dr.  Gray  and  Mr.  Dick : 

"Whereas  reports  are  in  circulation,  and  generally  believed, 
that  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  James 
M.  Mathews  and  John  X.  Clark,  have  entered  into  ministerial 
and  Christian  communion  in  another  church,  which  has  excited 
a  great  degree  of  dissatisfaction  in  several  parts  of  our  church ; 
and  wheretis,  it  is  the  duty  of  this  court  to  inquire  into  matters 
which  affect  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  church — therefore 

"  Resolved,  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  truth  of  said  report,  and  into  the  circumstances  of  the  fact, 
if  it  shall  prove  to  be  a  fact — with  power  to  call  for  testimony — 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   CONTROVERSY.  388 

and  that  they  report  to  this  Synod,  as  soon  as  convenient,  that 
such  order  may  be  taken  thereon  as  duty  shall  require. 

"  Carried. 

"  The  Committee  are  Dr.  Gray,  Messrs.  Mairs,  Henderson, 
McChord,  and  Mc Williams." 

"  May  23d. — The  above  Committee  reported  as  follows : — 

"  That  on  consultation  they  were  of  opinion  that  the  shortest 
way  for  gaining  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  facts  and  circum- 
stances in  the  case,  was  to  inquire  at  the  mouth  of  the  brethren 
themselves.  They  were  accordingly  desired  to  attend  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Committee.  They  attended,  and  gave  an  unreserved, 
and  it  is  believed,  a  full  relation  of  their  conduct  respectivel} , 
so  far  as  connected  with  said  reports.  The  following  is  a  brief 
outline  of  the  statements  then  given  : 

"After  Dr.  Mason  was  released  from  the  pastoral  charge  of 
the  first  congregation  in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  a  part  of 
that  congregation  was  erected  into  a  separate  vacancy,  to  which 
he  was  appointed  supply  ;  it  became  necessary  for  this  new  con- 
gregation to  obtain  a  place  of  meeting  for  their  public  Avorship. 
This  they  found  no  easy  task ;  but  were  defeated  in  their  at- 
tempts to  procure  a  temporary  accommodation,  until  the  house 
which  they  contemplated  building  should  be  completed  for  their 
reception.  At  last  the  trustees  of  that  Presbyterian  church,  of 
which  Dr.  Eomeyn  is  pastor,  granted  the  free  use  of  their  meet- 
ing house,  at  such  times  as  did  not  interfere  with  the  seasons  of 
their  own  public  worship.  And  Dr.  Mason  with  the  vacancy 
under  his  care,  have  since  that  time  held  their  meetings  in  said 
house;  assembling  after  the  dismission  of  Dr.  Romeyn's  church 
on  the  Lord's  day,  both  forenoon  and  afternoon. 

"  This  circumstance  introduced  the  two  societies  to  the  most 
intimate  acquaintance,  occasioned  each  frequently  to  wait  on 
the  ministrations  of  the  pastor  of  the  other ;  the  conse(^uence 
was  a  high  degree  of  mutual  affection,  confidence  and  esteem. 
On  the  first  occasion  that  Dr.  Mason  administered  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  his  congregation,  it  was,  on  con- 
sultation with  the  Session,  thought  proper  to  admit  Dr.  Romeyn 
and  his  people  to  communion. 

"  When  Dr.  Romeyn  next  administered  the  Lord's  Supper, 


384  THE  BRETHREN"  EMBARRASSED. 

an  invitation  was  given  to  the  people  of  Dr.  Mason's  charge  to 
participate,  and  it  was  accepted. 

"  The  intercommunion  thus  begun,  has  continued  ever  since. 
But  it  is  not  viewed  by  Dr.  Mason,  and  the  people  of  his  charge, 
as  anything  else  than  the  application  of  the  principle  expressed 
in  Chapter  XXVL,  Section  2,  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  ;  nor  as 
involving  the  question  of  communion  with  any  other  church 
than  that  one  with  which  they  are,  in  the  providence  of  God,  so 
peculiarly  connected.  Nor  is  it  contemplated  to  continue,  after 
they  shall  obtain  a  separate  place  of  public  worship,  which  they 
are  making  preparations  to  build. 

"  With  respect  to  ministerial  communion,  the  following  is  the 
fiict :  That  a  few  Sabbaths  since,  Dr.  Mason  received  an  invita- 
tion from  Dr.  Eomeyn,  to  conduct  the  public  worship  of  his 
congregation,  which  he  accepted  ;  and  on  that  occasion  used  the 
established  order  of  worship  in  that  church.  Mr.  Mathews, 
who  has  no  pastoral  charge,  joined  in  the  communion  before 
stated,  as  a  member  of  Dr.  Mason's  church;  but  has  never  held 
ministerial  communion  with  any  other  than  the  Associate  Ee- 
formed  Church.  He  looks  upon  this  as  merely  occasional  com- 
munion, rendered  proper  by  the  peculiarity  of  circumstances  ,• 
and  not  as  involving  the  question  of  communion  with  any  other 
congregation  than  that  of  Dr.  Eomeyn ;  nor  with  that  under 
circumstances  different  from  the  present. 

"  The  case  of  Mr.  Clark  is  somewhat  differently  circumstanced. 
Being  indisposed,  and  having  engaged  a  brother  minister  to  fill 
his  pulpit,  he  went  without  previous  concert  to  Dr.  Miller's 
church  ;  and  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  being  that  day 
dispensed,  he  accepted  an  invitation  and  participated.  He  has 
never  engaged  in  ministerial  communion  out  of  the  Associate 
Eeformed  Church. 

"  On  reviewing  all  these  facts  and  circumstances,  the  Commit- 
tee found  itself  involved  in  considerable  difficulty.  On  the 
one  hand  they  see  no  sufficient  cause  to  depart  from  that  restrict- 
ed communion  in  the  seals  of  the  new  covenant  which  has  hith- 
erto obtained  in  the  Associate  Eeformed  Church ;  much  less  can 
they  approve  of  that  vague  and  indiscriminate  communion 
which  prevails  in  different  parts  of  the  land,  and  which,  by 
rendering  the  ascertainment  of  Cliristian  principle  and  charac- 


CONSIDERATIONS   ON  EITHER  SIDE.  385 

ter  impossible,  tends  to  make  men  indifferent  to  the  faith,  piety, 
and  righteousness  of  those  whom  they  recognise  as  brethren  in 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  with  whom  they  associate  in  the  most 
solemn  acts  of  religious  worship.  Also  every  thing  tending  to 
create  jealousies,  destroy  confidence,  and  mar  the  peace  and 
unity  of  tlie  Associate  Eeformed  church  is  deeply  to  be  re- 
gretted. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  they  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  the 
congregation  in  New  York  was  placed  in  unusual  circumstan- 
ces. They  were,  in  the  holy  providence  of  God,  connected 
with  the  church  of  Dr.  Romeyn  by  very  tender  ties  ;  and  they 
had  fall  means  of  being  morally  satisfied  respecting  the  faith 
and  character  of  those  with  whom  they  were  to  hold  commun- 
ion. A  declinature  on  their  part  to  admit  to  their  communion, 
those  whom  they  sustained,  on  due  means  of  knowledge,  as 
brethren  in  Christ,  with  whom  they  were  daily  associating  in 
other  acts  of  religious  worship,  and  who  were  displaying  great 
tenderness  and  good  offices  toward  them,  might  have  chilled 
Christian  love  on  both  sides,  led  to  invidious  inquiries  and 
altercations,  and  have  exposed  Christianity  to  derision  in  the 
eyes  of  its  enemies.  They  must  have  anticipated,  and  did  an- 
ticipate^ that  the  step  they  were  taking  would  create  uneasiness 
in  the  breasts  of  their  brethren  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
Thus  situated,  it  must  have  been  painful  for  them  to  reflect, 
that  act  as  they  might,  they  must  give  dissatisfaction  to  some 
persons.  It  is  for  this  Synod  to  judge  whether  under  all  the 
circumstances,  the  conduct  of  these  ministers  and  that  congre- 
gation was  Christian  and  judicious,  calculated  to  promote  the 
interests  of  Christ's  kingdom  on  the  spot  where  the  events  took 
place ;  as  also  whether  it  was  compatible  with  that  regard  to 
peace  and  harmony  so  incumbent  on  those  connected  by  the 
solemn  bond  of  ecclesiastical  covenant. 

"In  regard  to  the  ministerial  communion  which  Dr.  Mason 
held  with  Dr.  Komeyn,  the  onlj'-  circumstance  which  has  created 
any  displeasure  is  that  of  the  psalmody  used  on  the  occasion. 

"  On  Mr.  Clark's  conduct,    the  Committee  cannot  but  look 
with  disapprobation.     They  do  not  think  it  was  his  duty  to 
neglect  assembling  with  his  own  church,  though  another  min- 
ster was  to  lead  the  public  offices.     And  they  cannot  see  tha 
25 


386  MOTION   FOR   CENSURE  NEGATIVED. 

the  providence  of  God  called  him,  on  so  casual  an  event  as  that 
of  stepping  into  a  church  during  the  period  of  administering 
the  Lord's  Supper,  to  join  in  that  holy  ordinance,  knowing  as 
he  must  have  done,  that  such  conduct  would  displease  and 
grieve  a  great  portion  of  that  part  of  the  church  of  God  with 
which  he  was  connected  ;  while  a  different  conduct  could  give 
no  offence  to  any  part  of  the  family  of  faith. 

"  All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

"J.  GRAY,  Chairman. 

"  Saturday  Morning. — It  was  moved  by  Messrs.  Henderson* 
and  Dick* : 

"  Whereas,  it  appears  that  Dr.  Mason,  Messrs.  Mathews  and 
Clark,  have  joined  in  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America  ;  and  whereas,  it 
also  appears,  that  the  Rev.  John  M.  Mason,  has  ministerially 
joined  with  said  Church  in  the  use  of  psalms,  the  composition 
of  which  is  merely  human — all  which  being  contrary  to  the 
established  order  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  and  hav- 
ing a  tendency  to  injure  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer  in  their 
hands — therefore, 

"  Resolved — That  the  Sjmod  do  declare  their  decided  disap- 
probation of  the  deportment  of  said  brethren  in  the  premises, 
and  command  them  to  return  to  the  established  order  of  this 
church. 
,     "  The  resolution  was  negatived — Ayes,  3 ;  Nays,  13 ;  Silent,  2. 

"  Monday  morning. — It  was  moved  by  Messrs  Dickeyf  and 
Porter:}: : — 

"Whereas  a  diversity  of  judgment  and  practice  has  been 
found  to  exist  among  the  ministers  and  members  of  this  church, 
relative  to  the  application  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith  concerning  the  Communion  of  Saints ;  and  whereas  the 
course  of  correct  procedure  in  this  matter  must  depend  in  a 
great  measure  upon  circumstances  which  cannot  be  provided 
for  by  any  general  rule,  therefore, 

*^'  Both  from  the  Presbytery  of  Monongahcla. 
t  From  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 
J  From  the  Presbytery  of  the  Carolinas. 


SPEECH   ON   THE   OCCASION.  387 

"  Resolved — That  the  judicatories,  ministers,  and  members  of 
this  church  be,  and  they  hereby  are,  entreated  and  required  to 
exercise  mutual  forbearance  in  the  premises;  and  in  the  use  of 
their  discretion  to  observe  mutual  tenderness  and  brotherly 
love,  studying  to  avoid  whatever  may  be  contrary  thereto;  and 
giving  especial  heed  to  the  preservation  of  sound  and  efficient 
discipline. 

"  Carried— Ayes,  16 ;  Nays,  3." 

In  the  course  of  these  proceedings  Dr.  Mason  made  a  speech, 
which,  according  to  universal  tradition,  must  have  been  one  of 
the  greatest  ever  heard  in  an  ecclesiastical  assembly.  A  very 
competent  witness,  who  was  present,  is  still  in  the  habit  of 
calling  it  the  "  mighty  speech.''''  He  spoke  about  three  hours, 
and,  by  his  overwhelming  arguments,  persuasions,  and  entrea- 
ties— by  his  irresistible  appeals  to  Scripture  and  to  history — to 
the  example  of  our  Saviour  and  his  early  disciples — to  the 
practice  of  the  best  men  in  every  age — to  that  of  tlie  fathers 
of  the  Reformation,  especially  in  Scotland — to  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  the  church  in  Republican  America — and  to  the 
good  or  evil  effects  which  must  result  from  a  generous  or  a 
narrow  policy  respectively,  he  carried  the  Assembly  along  with 
him,  and  produced  conviction  in  every  mind  not  previously  in- 
cased by  bigotry  or  blinded  by  prejudice.  Only  three  members 
of  the  Synod  were  found  to  give  their  votes  against  him. 

The  moderate  course  taken  by  the  Synod,  did  not  satisfy 
several  of  the  ministers  in  the  West  and  South.  They  felt  as 
much  shocked  as  if  the  innovation  had  been  a  most  daring 
sacrilege.  Some,  doubtless,  were  honest  in  the  feelings  which 
they  experienced ;  but  others,  it  is  feared,  were  actuated  by 
less  excusable  motives.  There  was,  in  some  quarters,  a  ran- 
cour which  only  waited  for  an  occasion  to  give  it  vent.  By 
letters  from  friends  in  Kentucky,  Dr.  Mason  was  informed  that 
in  the  extraordinary  measures  which  followed,  two  or  three  of 
the  ministers  in  that  region  were  peculiarly  active. 

Even  a  special  meeting  of  the  Particular  Synod  of  Scioto  was 
called  to  meet  at  Chilicothe,  Ohio,  on  the  16th  October,  it 
would  seem,  for  disorganizing  purposes.  The  object  stated  in 
the  call  was.  to  determine  "  whether  we  will  hold  communion 


388  PARTICULAR  SYNOD   OF   SCIOTO. 

with  our  Eastern  brethren,  or  with  those  who  will  hold  com- 
munion with  them." 

At  the  meeting,  which  was  actually  held  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed, the  proceedings  of  the  General  Synod  were  reviewed 
and  condemned ;  Dr.  Mason  and  his  friends  were  censured  ;  the 
former  was  required  to  make  concessions  and  acknowledgments 
for  his  conduct ;  and  a  correspondence  with  other  Synods,  and 
with  Presbyteries,  was  instituted  for  strengthening  themselves 
in  these  measures. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  proceedings  so  marked 
with  insubordination — proceedings  so  extraordinary  and  violent, 
and  so  indicative  of  anything  but  the  spirit  of  the  meek  and 
lowl}''  One,  received  the  sanction  of  all  the  brethren  in  the  West. 
They  were  deeply  and  extensively  deplored.  One,  calls  them 
"outrages,  criminal,  disorganizing,  and  even  malicious."  An- 
other, thought  "  the  calling  of  this  Synod  a  most  wicked  thing," 
and  reprobated  in  the  severest  terms,  the  inflammatory  letter 
which  had  caused  it.  Dr.  Mason,  who  was  more  particularly 
concerned  in  the  transaction,  contented  himself  with  addressing 
an  earnest  remonstrance  and  expostulation  in  writing,  to  the 
Synod  of  Scioto,  pointing  out  very  clearly,  the  injustice,  the  im- 
propriety and  the  mischievous  tendency  of  the  course,  which 
they  were  taking. 

Though  few  of  the  present  day  will  view  the  matter  in  any 
better  light,  yet  these  hostile  measures  had  their  effect  in  spread- 
ing disaffection,  as  well  as  in  both  checking  the  growth  of  th:>. 
Seminary,  and  curtailing  the  means  of  its  support. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  General  Synod,  held  at  Philadel- 
phia, May,  1812,  remonstrances,  against  holding  communion 
with  churches  of  the  General  Assembly,  were  sent  in  from  the 
Presbyteries  of  Monongahela,  Kentucky,  first  and  second  of  the 
Carolinas,  and  from  the  congregation  of  Fermanah,  in  Mifilin 
county,  Pennsylvania.  These  remonstrances  were  referred  to 
a  special  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Bishop,  Lind,  Gray, 
Forest,  and  Campbell.  After  a  full  discussion,  which  lasted 
several  days,  the  Synod  unanimously  adopted  the  following 
resolution,  rc[  ortcd  by  the  Committee: — 

"  That  the  remonstrances  should  lie  on  the  table ;  and  that  a 
committee  should  be  appointed  to  prepare  and  report  to  the 


A  QUESTION   IN  THE   MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  389 

Synod  at  its  next  meeting,  a  draught  of  an  act  declaring  and 
illustrating  the  doctrine  of  church  fellowship,  as  taught  in  the 
word  of  God,  and  the  standards  of  this  church." 

Rev.  J.  M.  Mason,  D.D.,  Rev.  James  Gra}',  D.D.,  and  Rev. 
E.  Dickey,  were  appointed  said  committee. 

Notwithstanding  the  untoward  influence  arising  from  the 
above  cause,  the  Superintendents  reported  the  names  of  eigh- 
teen students  in  the  Seminary;  also  that  they  "were  minutely 
examined  on  their  knowledge  of  Theology,  and  of  the  Scriptures, 
in  their  original  languages,  and  acquitted  themselves  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  the  Board." 

In  the  progress  of  things  at  this  period  the  subject  of  church 
communion,  in  some  of  its  bearings,  was  introduced  into  the 
New  York  Missionary  Society,  and  was  disposed  of  by  the 
adoption  of  the  following  report : — 

The  Committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of 
admitting  white  persons  as  members  of  the  church  at  Tuscarora, 
report : 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  granted  to  every  person  who 
makes  a  due  profession  of  his  name,  a  right  to  the  privileges  of 
membership  in  his  church. 

This  right,  the  courts  of  His  church,  whose  functions  are 
purely  ministerial,  have  no  power  to  contravene,  abridge,  or 
modify.  Far  less  can  any  such  power  be  lawfully  claimed  or 
exercised  by  such  a  body  as  the  New  York  Missionary  Society. 

Whether  the  presentation  of  this  right  should  at  any  time  be 
foreborne  by  any  individual  Christian,  is  a  question  of  which 
the  decision  must  depend  on  contingent  circumstances,  and  can 
in  no  wise  be  subjected  to  any  general  rules  established  by  this 
Society. 

The  Christian  Church  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  was  com- 
posed of  members  as  unlikely  in  many  instances  to  coalesce,  as 
Indians  and  white  men  can  be.  Yet  the  Scriptures  contain  no 
provision  for  any  inconveniences  which  might  result  from  their 
admixture,  other  than  such  as  may  apply  to  collisions  arising 
from  different  causes. 

It  would  be  ruinous  to  admit  members  habitually  as  occa- 
sional communicants,  who  should  nevertheless  be  subject  to  no 


390  WHITES   IN   THE   TUSCARORA  CHURCH. 

cliurcli  discipline;  and  inconsistent  and  unjust  to  keep  them 
nnder  the  coercion  of  the  church,  while  they  are  stripped  of  all 
their  direct  weight  as  constituent  members. 

The  ^Yhites  in  the  neighborhood  of  our  Mission  have  at 
present  no  other  access  to  the  ministrations  of  the  gospel  or 
means  of  obtaining  them.  They  are  accordingly  as  properly 
objects  of  this  Society's  care  as  the  Indians  themselves.  If 
they  be  not  admitted  as  complete  members  of  the  existing 
church,  either  the  Society  must  renounce  one  of  the  great  ends 
of  its  institution,  or  establish  another  Mission,  for  these  desti- 
tute whites. 

Should  the  preponderance  of  the  whites,  or  any  other  occur- 
rence threaten  to  defeat  the  benevolent  operations  of  the  Mis- 
sion at  Tuscarora,  the  Society  will  have  the  remedy  in  their 
own  hands ;  as  they  can  be  under  no  obligation  to  use  their 
own  funds  for  the  destruction  of  their  specific  designs. 

On  the  whole,  your  Committee  are  of  opinion  that  as  the 
evil  apprehended  from  the  unrestricted  admission  of  whites  as 
such  is  contingent,  may  never  happen,  and  if  it  should,  will  be 
a  subject  of  prudential  management,  while  their  exclusion  from 
the  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  Indian  members  would  be  a 
hazardous  assumption  of  power  by  this  Society,  and  an  inva- 
sion of  the  order  which  Christ  has  established,  it  will  be  both 
right  and  wise  to  leave  any  emergent  evil  to  such  a  course  of 
remedy  as  Divine  Providence  shall  point  out.  They  therefore 
propose  the  following  resolution  : — 

Kesolved,  That  the  admission  of  members  to  the  communion 
of  the  church  at  Tuscarora  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  Mr. 
Gray  and  his  Session  ;  and  that  they  be,  and  hereby  are  directed, 
to  make  no  distinction  between  white  men  and  Indians  on  ac- 
count of  their  nationality. 

By  order  of  the  Committee. 
New  Yoek,  Aug.  5,  1811.  J.  M.  MASON,  CTiairman. 

In  a  manner  somewhat  more  remote,  the  same  point  is  touched 
in  a  letter  to  a  former  student : — 


CATHOLIC  VIEWS.  391 

TO  THE  REV.  W.   McMUERAY. 

New  Yoek,  2d  October,  1811. 

My  Dear  McMurray  :  It  is  not  because  your  happiness, 
usefulness,  or  wishes,  weigh  little  with  me,  that  your  letter  of 
the  5th  August  has  been  hitherto  unanswered.  Its  very  im- 
portant subject  has  occupied  much  of  my  thoughts.  But, 
although  sent  by  mail,  it  was  long  on  the  road  ;  so  long  that  I 
could  not  write  back  to  you  in  season,  according  to  ray  infor- 
mation, for  the  meeting  of  your  Presbytery  ;  and  you  had  for- 
gotten to  mention  the  time. 

You  were  put  so  fully  in  possession  of  my  general  views  on 
the  question  of  your  removal,  when  I  conversed  with  you  on 
that  point,  that  I  have  very  little  more  to  communicate.  To 
cherish  "  the  spirit  of  the  body,"  in  all  things  lawful,  is  not 
merely  policy ;  it  is  principle ;  it  is  duty.  Therefore,  cceteris 
paribus,  the  interest  of  our  own  actual  connexions  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred before  all  others.  I,  however,  fully  agree  with  you,  that 
we  are  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  our  Masters  call ;  and  to  be 
found  in  that  station  which  promises  most  usefulness  to  his 
church  from  our  labours.  Our  friends  have  been  too  much  in 
the  habit  of  associating,  practically,  at  least,  the  approved  ser- 
vice of  Christ,  with  serving  him  in  their  little  section  of  his 
vineyard ;  and,  less  observant  of  his  providence  than  of  their 
own  peculiarities,  have  considered  union,  and  even  intercourse 
with  other  Christians,  as  something  like  a  step  towards  apos- 
tacy.  Such  notions  and  feelings,  breathing  more  of  the  spirit 
of  sect  than  of  the  gospel,  originating  in  the  small  vanity  of 
bodies  which  confine  themselves  to  themselves,  and  measure 
themselves  by  themselves,  are  not  only  always  pitiable  and 
hurtful,  but  are  loudly  rebuked  by  the  moral  circumstances  of 
the  age.  Believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  have  other  em- 
ployment than  bickering  about  matters  which  stubborn  facts 
show  to  be  disregarded  by  him.  So  that,  if  it  shall  appear  to 
be  most  for  the  edification  of  his  church  that  you  go  to  Rhine- 
beck,  far  from  my  heart — however  disinclined  to  be  severed 
from  my  ecclesiastical  children — be  the  attempt  to  say  nay  !  In 
one  thing  I  am  sure  of  your  concurrence:  I  mean  the  neces- 
sity of  managing  such  a  transfer  with  caution  and  delicacy ; 


892  DELICACY  AND   PRUDENCE. 

that  there  may  be  nothing  to  justify  the  imputation  of  whim, 
of  disaffection  to  your  present  brethren,  or  anything  which 
might  be  painful  to  yourself  or  them. 

From  the  whole  tenor  of  your  letter,  I  conclude  that  you 
will  shortly  become  the  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Church  at  Ehine- 
beck.  I  bow  my  knees  to  the  God  and  father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  on  your  behalf,  that  he  would  strengthen  you 
with  all  might  by  his  spirit  in  the  inner  man  ;  and  that,  where- 
ever  you  are,  you  may  be  steadfast,  immovable,  always  abound- 
ing in  his  blessed  work,  and  always  replenished  with  the  power 
and  consolations  of  his  grace.  Remember  me  at  His  throne, 
my  dear  McMurraj^ 

Your  friend  and  brother, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 


CARE    FOR    FRIENDS-WESTERN    CHURCHES. 

Letter  to  his  son  Abraham — Letter  to  Mrs.  Bogart — Letter  to  Mrs.  Brown — 
Hints  to  Mr.  Tliomas  Warner — Memorandum  for  Dr.  Eomcyn — Condition 
of  Western  Churches. 

Dr.  Mason's  anxieties  and  aims  respecting  his  children,  may 
in  some  measure  be  seen  in  a  letter  to  his  son  Abraham,  at 
school  with  the  Rev.  George  Stewart,  in  the  village  of  Bloom- 
ingburgh,  N.  Y. 

TO  MASTER  ABRAHAM  MASON. 

New  York,  March  23,  1813. 

My  Dear  Boy  :  I  enjoyed  more  pleasure  than  you  perhaps 
imagine,  from  your  letter  to  me  some  time  ago,  and  the  speci- 
men of  your  composition  which  accompanied  it.  Your  letters 
are  creditable  to  you ;  and  the  composition,  for  the  first  at- 
tempt, exceeded  my  hope.  Nothing  gives  me  higher  earthly 
satisfaction,  than  promising  appearances  in  my  children.  Your 
improvement  in  understanding  and  manliness  since  you  went 
to  Bloomingburgh,  repays  me  for  my  solicitude  and  expense 
on  your  account.  Go  on,  my  dear  boy,  in  the  good  work  of 
cultivating  your  own  faculties,  and  gladdening  the  hearts  of 
your  parents  and  friends.  Be  very  carefnl  of  your  time,  so 
as  not  to  exclude  a  reasonable  share  of  healthful  exercise.  Be 
cleanly  in  your  person,  obliging  in  your  manners,  gentlemanly 
towards  your  fellow  scholars,  attentive  to  your  studies,  respectful 
and  submissive  to  your  teachers,  and  especially  circumspect 
and  docile  in  your  behaviour  to  Mr.  Stewart.  Flee  from  idle- 
ness, and  all  sorts  of  wickedness.  Repress  anger,  and  detest 
sulkiness.     Scrupulously  observe  the  Lord's  day  as  you  have 


894  THE   DEATH   OF  MISS   VAN   WYCK. 

been  taught.  Be  faithful  in  reading  your  Bible,  in  your  morn- 
ing and  evening  secret  prayer,  and  in  learning  your  catechism. 
Seek  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  performance  of  your  duties. 
Ask  particularly  and  earnestly,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
would  give  you  his  Holy  Spirit.  Remember  my  dear  child, 
that  your  immortal  soul  is  your  most  precious  possession.  That 
lost,  all  is  lost.  Be  not  satisfied  till  you  have  good  reason  to 
believe  that  you  are  the  Lord's.  Beg  of  him,  beg  as  for  your  life, 
that  he  would  bestow  upon  you,  what  the  Scriptures  call  a  new 
heart.  Be  afraid  of  nothing  so  much  as  of  sin.  Your  mother 
and  I  desire  to  be  very  thankful  for  your  general  good  health. 
All  the  family  send  their  love.  We  hope  to  see  you  in  due 
season. 

Your  affectionate  father, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  here  the  fact,  that 
Abraham  at  an  early  day  made  an  open  and  public  profession 
of  religion. 

The  subject  of  the  following  two  letters  was  the  only  unmar- 
ried sister  of  Dr.  Mason's  mother.  She  possessed  great  excel- 
lence of  character,  and  with  a  most  amiable  Christian  meek- 
ness of  temper  united  a  considerable  degree  of  literary  taste. 
The  last  year  or  two  of  her  life  she  spent  in  the  family  of  her 
nephew : — 

TO   MRS.   H.    BOGART,    HACKENSACK,  N.  J. 

New  York,  August  6,  1813. 

My  Dear  Aunt:  The  consummation  has  at  length  come. 
Our  loved  aunt  Maria  has  bidden  us  adieu,  and  has  gone  to  be 
with  Christ,  Her  departure  was  sweet  and  gentle.  Without 
a  groan,  with  scarcely  a  struggle,  at  half-past  nine  this  morning, 
she  breathed  out  her  happy  spirit  into  the  hands  of  her  Re- 
deemer. Nature  feels,  and  will  mourn  over  the  severance  of 
her  tenderest  ties ;  but  it  is  only  nature  that  may  mourn  here. 
It  is  well.  It  is  peace.  It  is  victory.  It  is  another  blessed 
one  added  to  the  "  spirits  of  the  just :"  another  ornament  to  the 
celestial  world.  Come,  let  us  be  glad,  and  rejoice.  Heaven 
sings,  and  why  should  not  we?  How  transporting  the  meet- 
ing with  those  friends  who  went  before !     How  clear  her  views 


THE   DEATH   OF   illSS  VAN  WYCK.  395 

and  judgment  now  of  the  Lord's  dealing  witli  her!  She  now 
knows  that  he  has  led  her  by  a  way  that  is  right,  to  a  city  of 
habitation.  To-morrow  afternoon  wc  expect  to  commit  her  re- 
mains to  the  faithful  tomb,  where  her  "  flesh  shall  rest  in  hope." 
They  are  precious  remains.  They  are  the  property  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  They  are  under  the  consecration  of  his  blood,  and  in 
the  charge  and  safe-keeping  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  who  will  quicken 
them  in  due  season,  and  show  them  to  us,  when  rescued  from 
the  grave,  in  all  their  improvement.  Not  feeble,  fading,  emaci- 
ated, but  in  the  vigour  of  immortality,  in  the  glory  of  the  skies, 
in  the  beauty  of  the  "Word  made  flesh."  My  heart  rises: 
Oh,  to  be  with  her !  I  hope  it  will  be  so.  For  us  it  is  left  to 
"follow  them  who  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the 
promises." 

You  may  be  well  satisfied  you  did  not  come  down.  It  is  best 
as  it  has  happened.  The  Lord,  her  God  and  Father,  support 
my  dear  aunt,  and  fill  her  with  abundant  consolations  ! 

Ever  your  afiectionate 

J.  M.  MASON. 

TO  MRS.  M.  BROWN,  FRANKFORT.  KENTUCKY. 

New  York,  August  7,  1813. 

At  length,  my  dear  Sister,  the  battle  is  over,  and  the  victory 
won.  Our  blessed  aunt  Maria  has  gone  to  be  with  him  whom 
her  soul  loved.  Her  faith  and  patience  had  their  perfect  work, 
and  are  now  reaping  their  reward  in  the  celestial  glory.  Her 
strength,  never  great,  gradually  declined.  Her  frame  was 
visibly  taking  down,  and  she  sweetly  breathed  out  her  spirit  at 
half-past  nine  yesterday  morning.  Her  day  was  partially 
clouded  some  time  before  her  decease,  but  the  clouds  dispersed. 
At  evening  time  there  was  light ;  and  her  sun  sank  unobscured 
in  the  horizon  of  earth,  to  emerge  in  new  splendour  above  that 
of  heaven.  How  consoling,  my  sister — what  unutterable  cause 
of  thanksgiving,  to  have  every  possible  assurance,  that  a  dear 
friend  is  gone  to  be  with  the  "  Eesurrection  and  the  Life!" 
Oh  !  it  is  a  world  of  comfort  and  of  woe,  and  our  best  employ- 
ment in  it,  is  to  be  actively  engaged  in  that  exercise  of  faith 
and  labour  of  love,  which  shall  prepare  us  for  leaving  it.  How 
little,  how  puny  do  all  the  great  things  of  time  appear,  when 
that  eternity  opens  to  our  view !     How  deep   the  shade  which 


^^Q  HINTS   FOR   MR.    T,   WARNER. 

death  throws  over  the  lustre  of  life!  But  to  our  aunt,  death 
brought  neither  surprise  nor  consternation.  He  came  with 
cherub's  face,  and  a  message  of  love.  She  took  his  gentle 
hand  and  stepped  serenely  into  her  Father's  house.  Her  body, 
a  temple  of  the  Holy  One,  we  shall,  this  afternoon,  consign  to 
his  custody  in  the  purified  tomb.  What  an  assemblage  of 
ransomed  bodies  rest  in  that  one  tomb,  to  rise  together  in  the 
Saviour's  glory  I  May  we,  through  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  be  of  the  party !  I  can  no  more.  Nancy  and  the 
rest  are  well.  Aunt  Maria  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  Jane 
happily  married,  three  days  before  her  own  departure. 

Ever  your  affectionate 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Mr.  Thomas  Warner,  one  of  Dr.  Mason's  former  students,  ac- 
companied Dr.  J.  B.Eomeyn,  in  a  voyage  to  Europe  for  the  ben- 
efit of  his  health.  Together  with  several  letters  of  introduction, 
Dr.  M.  furnished  him  with  a  few  practical  hints : — 

New  York,  Oct.  28,  1813. 

My  Dear  Warner  :  In  the  affecting  moment  of  separation, 
neither  of  us  knowing  aught  of  all  that  shall  befall  us,  you  will 
not  disregard  a  suggestion  or  two  from  one  who  loves  you  ten- 
derly. 

1.  Keep  the  'power  of  spiritual  religion  in  your  soul ;  for  it 
may  leave  you.  It  is  the  object  of  the  tempter,  and  the  ten- 
dency of  your  own  depravity,  to  weaken  and  destroy  its  influ- 
ence. 

2.  If  you  would  enjoy  this  comfort,  keep,  by  active  faith,  the 
Blood  of  Sprinkling  in  your  conscience.  Live  upon  Jesus  as 
the  Lord  your  strength  ;  and  never  tamper,  either  with  the  mer- 
cies of  God,  or  the  wiles  of  the  Devil,  or  the  villanies  of  your 
own  heart. 

8.  Make  all  your  observations  and  acquisitions  tributary  to 
the  glory  of  Jesus  the  Eedeemer.     This  is  good  travelling. 

4.  Say  little  about  your  own  country,  less  about  political 
measures,  and  least  of  all  about  yourself,  except  for  medical 
purposes,  in  a  strange  land. 

5.  Let  no  man  get  out  of  you  indirectly  what  you  do  not 
choose  to  tell  him  directly. 


CHARACTERISTIC   FEATURES.  397 

6.  Be  very  curious  after  information  ;  but  ask  questions,  not 
like  an  inquisitor,  or  an  attorney-general. 

7.  In  conversation  and  writing,  guard  against  the  proneness 
of  your  mind  to  subtlety,  and  on  no  consideration,  pledge  your- 
self to  debates  hy  letter.  It  is  a  waste  of  life  to  worse  than  no 
purpose. 

8.  In  the  enjoyment  of  the  great  hospitality  which  you  will 
find  among  Scotch  friends,  beware  of  their  suppers,  so  as  to  be 
duly  cautious  against  cold  ;  and  of  their  toddy  at  all  times.  It 
is  extremely  insidious.     My  advise  would  be  never  to  touch  it. 

I  shall  load  you  with  no  more  admonitions,  but  commend 

you  to  the  safe  and  sanctifying  keeping  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Grace  be  with  you !     Kemember  your  friend, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

At  the  same  time,  he  prepared  the  following  "Private  Mem- 
orandum "  for  Dr.  Komeyn  : 

"//.  Tliornton,  Esq.,  M.  P.— A  gentleman  of  unaffected  Chris- 
tian simplicity  ;  not  ardent  in  his  manner,  but  staunch  in  heart, 
and  ready  to  do  solid  kindness.  He  will  be  the  proper  medium 
of  access  to  Lord  Sidmouth,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Lord  Teignmouth, 
and  others. 

"  W.  Wilberforce,  Esq.,  M.  P.— An  ardent,  active  man  and 
Christian  ;  full  of  thirst  for  information  ;  abundant  in  questions, 
sometimes  too  rapid  to  receive  distinct  answers, 

''Lord  Teignmouth. — Unassuming,  frank,  dignified;  the  gen- 
tleman and  the  Christian. 

''Joseph  Hardcastle,  ^82-— Modesty  and  humility  personified; 
good  sense  of  no  common  order,  to  he  draiun  out  in  private.  An 
admirable  family  altogether.  Mr.  H.  will  put  Dr.  K.  in  the 
way  for  delivering  letters  to  merchants,  clergymen,  &c. 

"Bev.  Alexander  iraw^'/i.—llespectable  talent ;  cheerful,  open- 
prudent  piety. 

"James  Pritt,  Esq. — A  Baptist,  of  strong  sense,  elevated  and 
generous  spirit,  and  worthy  of  high  esteem. 

"  Bohert  Bowyer,  Esq. — A  Baptist;  honest  as  truth  ;  warm- 
hearted as  summer;  a  little  loose  in  some  of  his  notions  about 
the  church.  N.  B. — He  has  occasionally  tried  his  gifts  as  a  lay 
brother." 


398  CHARACTERISTIC   FEATURES. 


EDINBURGH. 
'^Bev.SirH.  Mbncneff—The  champion  of  the  orthodox  in  the 
politics  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.     A  man  of  masculine  under- 
standing,  of  commanding  dignit}^,  and  of  iron  nerve.     It  is 
impossible  to  be  in  his  company  without  feeling  that  you  must 
"  respect  him. 

"  Bev.  Dr.  Davidson— Gentle,  placid,  pure,  spiritual ;  talents 
moderate  ;  zeal  and  diligence  great ;  affectionate,  tender,  be- 
loved by  the  good;  not  well-treated  by  some  of  the  fierce- 
moderation-men. 

"  Bev.  J.  F.  S.  Jones,  of  Lady  Glenorchy's  Chapel — Ingenious, 
curious,  zealous,  fall  of  information  and  singular  anecdote  ; 
cheerful ;  vivacious  ;  highly  respectable. 

^^  Bev.  Dr.  Walter  Buchanan,  of  theCanongate — Unaffectedly 
good ;  vi^arm  in  attachment  to  Christians ;  unassuming ;  com- 
municative where  he  can  trust. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  James  Hall,  Burgher — A  heart  as  large  and  as  kind 
as  Gains;  much  the  gentleman  ;  most  public  spirited. 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Peddie,  Burgher — Solid,  sound,  rather  cold,  some- 
what reserved,  often  pleasant,  worth  knowing. 

"i?ey.  Dr.Jemieson,  Antiburgher — With  qualities  that  would 
greatly  augment  his  respectability  and  usefulness,  if  he  were 
liberated  from  the  manacles  and  prison  of  Antiburgher  rigour. 
An  antiquarian. 

^^  Mr.  E.  Mason — A  merchant:  my  uncle;  find  him  out  for 
yourself.  N.B.— It  will  be  best  to  call  on  him  first,  when  in 
Edinburgh.  He  will  take  pleasure  in  facilitating  your  other 
calls." 

GLASGOW. 
"  Dr.  Robert  Balfour — The  Coryphaeus  of  the  Scotch   pulpit, 
commonly  called  the  Preaching  Machine.     Very  cheerful  and 
hospitable  ;  who  both  loves  his  friends,  and  glorifies  his  God. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  John  Dick,  Burgher — Perhaps  their  first  man  ;  cool, 
clear  and  decisive. 

"  Rev.  John  Mitchell,  Antiburgher,  Anderston — Amiable  ; 
respectable,  retired,  smothered  under  the  Antiburgher  bushel. 
N.B.— His  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  late  William  Gillespie,  is 
something  of  a  ivit,  but  not  a  tormenting  one. 


EFFECTS   OF  THE   WAR   IN  OHIO.  399 

"Bev.  John  Love,  Chapel-of-Base,  Anderston — Solemn,  fervent 
in  spirit,  ingenuous,  of  great  imagination,  original,  inclined  to 
melancholy  ;  deals  much  in  angels.'^ 

The  above  was  accompanied  by  other  hints  for  facilitating 
his  journeys  through  England. 

About  this  time  he  preached  a  series  of  discourses  on  family 
instruction  and  government,  which  were  considered  by  his 
hearers  preeminently  valuable.  More  than  one  publishing 
house  offered  a  liberal  premium  for  the  privilege  of  printing 
them  for  the  public  at  large  ;  but  unfortunately  they  were  not 
written,  and  he  had  not  time  enough  at  his  disposal  to  reduce 
them  to  that  form. 

For  the  same  reason  he  had  often  before  been  obliged  to  de- 
cline urgent  applications  from  various  parts  of  the  country  for 
the  publication  of  sermons  and  other  productions. 

From  Chilicothe,  Ohio,  under  date  of  August  15,  1813,  the 
Rev.  John  McFarland  describes  the  state  of  things  in  the  West 
as  follows :  "  The  war  has  had  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the 
religious  community  in  this  State.  Emigration  from  other 
parts  is  stopped.  All  the  attention  of  people  is  turned  to  the 
scenes  of  blood  and  to  the  safety  of  worldly  interests.  And  in 
this  Presbytery,  a  war  has  commenced,  to  be  lamented  equally 
with  that  which  jDrevails  in  the  frontier  of  the  State.  That 
spirit  of  contention  and  slander,  which  has  been  cherished  by 
too  many  of  our  people  in  the  West,  with  respect  to  other  de- 
nominations, has  begun  to  operate  internally  ;  and  will,  in  all 
probability,  tear  this  Presbytery  into  fragments.  The  only 
prudent  measure  which  presents  itself  to  me  is,  for  Mr.  B.,  and 
those  who  associate  with  him  to  withdraw  to  this  State,  and 
get  themselves,  with  those  already  here,  constituted  into  a 
Presbytery.  If  this  could  be  done,  and  they  could  afford  to 
make  the  sacrifices  necessary  so  long  as  the  war  continues, 
there  is  little  doubt  but  much  good  might  be  effected  on  this 
side  of  the  Ohio  river.  Taking  all  things  however  as  they  are, 
I  am  at  a  loss  what  course  to  pursue.  A  few  lines  from  you 
would  be  very  acceptable,  and  would  probably  relieve  me  from 
much  anxiety'." 


CHAPTEE   XXXI. 
1814. 

A    CHALLENGE,    COLUMBIA    COLLEGE,    ETC. 

Advice  to  an  officer  of  the  Army— Aid  from  the  State  for  Columbia  College— Let- 
ter to  A.  Van  Vecliten,  Esq. — Letter  to  Mrs.  Janet  Suffern — The  Communion 
Question — Proceedings  of  the  Synod — The  Seminary — The  Rev.  J.  M.  Duncan 
Letter  of  Dr.  Balfoui— Sermon  on  Mrs.  Graham— Letter  to  Dr.  Eaffles— Letter 
to  Mrs.  M.  Brown— Letter  to  Mr.  Veech. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  present  year,  Dr.  Mason's  advice  was 
asked  by  an  officer  in  the  army,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  pro- 
fessor of  religion,  under  embarrassing  circumstances.  The  na- 
ture of  the  difficulty,  as  well  as  the  course  recommended,  will 
sufficiently  appear  from  his  answer: — 

DR.  M.  TO  CAPTAIN  ,  U.  S.  ARMY. 

New  York,  January  10th,  1814. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  deeply  sympathize  with  you  in  the  trial 
to  which  your  public  duty  and  Christian  virtue  have  been  put 
bv  a  challenge  from  one  of  your  brother  officers  ;  and  am  re- 
joiced and  consoled  by  the  triumph,  thus  far,  of  all  that  is  good 
and  holy,  of  all  that  is  rational  and  true,  of  all  that  is  magnan- 
imous and  brave,  in  refusing  from  principle  to  fight  a  duel;  in 
which  fools  and  atheists,  madmen  and  cut-throats  and  cowards, 
have  courage  enough  to  engage,  on  the  slightest  provocation  ; 
but  which  it  requires  that  rare  virtue,  moral  heroism^  to  decline 
on  the  greatest.  At  the  same  time  I  doubt  the  propriety  of 
the  course,  which,  in  ^/iz'ssta^re  of  the  business,  you  seem  inclined 
to  lake.  Direct  appeals  to  the  public  ought  to  be  the  last  resort. 
It  is  hardly  military  to  adopt,  wiihoMi  final  necessity,  an  unmil- 
itary  mode  of  defence.  You  have  a  regular  military  form  of 
redress,  which  ought  by  all  means  to  be  tried,  before  you  pre- 
sent yourself  at  the  bar  of  the  public. 


ADVICE  TO   A   CnALLENGED   OFFICER.  401 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  have  given  no  plausible  rea- 
son of  dissatisfaction  to  the  challenger.  Be  very  sure  on  this 
head  ;  and  be  not  fastidious.  If  you  have  in  any  way  been  so 
unfortunate  as  to  injure  him,  honour  and  generosity  combine 
with  justice  and  religion  to  enforce  the  utmost  extentof  repara- 
tion consistent  with  their  united  claims.  If  you  have  done  nd 
wrong,  then  the  process  is  short :  Have  the  challenger  and  his 
second  immediately  arrested  and  tried  by  a  court-martial  under 
the  "  Kales  and  Articles  of  War."  You  may  prefer  solid  charges, 
and  touch  no  others.  You  will  of  course  be  certain  of  your 
proofs;  and  will  not  fail  to  keep  for  inspection  the  written 
challenge,  if  such  an  one  was  sent. 

I  trust  you  will  keep  yourself  perfectly  cool,  but  insist  on  a 
court-martial.  Provided  you  can  fairl}-  make  out  your  case, 
and  should  the  court  not  do  you  justice,  appeal  to  a  general 
court  martial.  Should  you  fail  there,  appeal  to  God  and  your 
country,  and  resign  a  sword  which  you  cannot  wear  without 
crime.  I  pray  you  to  put  it  fully  to  the  test  whether  the  "  Ar- 
ticles of  War  "  are  an  unmeaning  letter  or  not.  Reap  the  hon- 
our of  arraying  public  principle  against  private  depravity.  But 
as  you  love  your  country — as  you  would  not  be  a  perjured  sol- 
dier— as  you  fear  God — as  you  look  for  reward  to  tliat  eternity 
— as  you  would  not  break  the  hearts  of  your  best  friends — as 
you  \vould  not  scandalize  the  wise  and  good,  and  be  cast  away 
from  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  present  life — persist, 
inflexibly  persist,  in  refusing  the  challenge.  My  prayers  are 
for  you  in  this  time  of  need. 

Affectionately  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

In  the  early  part  of  March,  in  this  year,  he  prepared  a  memo- 
rial and  petition  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  in  behalf  of  the 
Trustees  of  Columbia  College,  asking  for  assistance  in  sustain- 
ing and  enlarging  their  institution.  This  paper  was  presented 
to  the  Legislature,  but  for  weeks  lingered  in  that  body  and  was 
in  danger  of  being  defeated.  Under  these  circumstances.  Dr. 
Mason  found  it  necessary  to  visit  Albany,  and  personally  see 
the  members  in  order  to  elicit  their  attention  and  secure  his 
object.  This  brought  him  into  connection  with  the  President 
26 


402  APPLICATION   TO   THE    LEGISLATURE. 

of  another  institution,  who  had  a  similar  application  before  the 
Legislature  at  the  same  time.  It  is  due  to  this  distinguished 
individual,  that  so  far  from  standing  in  the  way  of  Dr.  Mason, 
he  aided  him.  These  two  great  men  presented  the  noble  spec- 
tacle of  rising  above  every  feeling  of  rivalship  in  similar  stations, 
and  of  cooperating  with  the  utmost  magnanimity  in  obtaining 
legislative  assistance  for  building  up  the  two  institutions.  The 
result  was  that  they  both  succeeded.  Union  College  obtained 
a  grant  of  $200,000  to  be  raised  by  lottery  ;  Columbia  College 
obtained  the  Elgin  Botanical  Garden,  near  New  York.  It  de- 
serves a  further  remark,  that  after  much  delay  and  many 
embarrassments,  the  lotteries  were  brought  to  a  successful  ter- 
mination, and  the  College  realized  the  whole  amount  granted. 
Moreover,  by  the  good  investments  which  Dr.  Nott  had  made 
of  the  stipulated  consideration  received  for  his  sagacity  and 
and  courage  in  sustaining  the  contractors,  and  in  conducting 
their  affairs  to  a  prosperous  issue,  at  the  expense  of  very  great 
hazards  and  exertions  to  himself,  he  was  enabled  in  1854,  to 
present  to  the  Trustees  a  donation  of  more  than  $600,000.  At 
the  same  time,  the  Botanical  Garden  had  so  increased  in  value 
as  to  enrich  Columbia  College  with  a  property  worth  about  the 
same  amount.  Thus  were  laid  the  foundations  of  two  magnifi- 
cent seats  of  learning  for  the  successive  generations  of  this 
growing  Eepublic ;  and  posterity  may  one  day  see  and  ac- 
knowledge to  what  extent  the  state  of  New  York  is  indebted 
to  these  two  individuals  for  its  progress  in  education,  and  thus 
in  knowledge  and  skill,  civilization  and  power. 

Soon  after  his  visit  to  Albany,  an  accident  befell  a  son  of  the 
friend  whose  hospitality  Dr.  M.  had  enjoyed  while  in  that  city. 
This  gave  occasion  for  a  note  evincing  the  deep  interest  which 
lie  felt  in  the  occurrence. 

TO  ABRAHAM  VAN  VECHTEN,  Esq. 

New  York,  April  30,  1814. 

My  Dear  Friend:  I  have  not  for  a  long  time  received  a 
letter  which  gave  me  so  great  relief  and  such  heart-felt  pleasure, 
as  your  most  welcome  note  of  the  27th  instant.  I  was  waiting 
with  trembling  anxiety  for  news  of  your  son  whose  misfortune 
I  bad  heard  of  shortly  after  it  happened.     This  new  affliction 


PASTORAL  ATTENTION.  403 

has  taken  such  fast  hold  of  my  mind,  that  the  night  before  your 
note  arrived,  I  "suffered  many  things  in  a  dream,"  because  of 
you  and  yours.  My  agony  awakened  Mrs.  Mason,  and  it  was 
a  considerable  time  before  she  could  get  me  composed  enough 
to  feel  that  the  "  visions  of  my  head"  were  not  realities.  I 
thank  our  good  and  gracious  God  that  your  son  is  on  the  re- 
covery. A  smart  stroke  of  the  rod  does  us  no  hurt,  when  it  is 
administered  by  the  hand  of  blessing.  How  infinitely  import- 
ant, my  friend,  to  have  a  portion  which  neither  accident  nor 
death  can  reach  !  The  "fountain  of  life"  be  yours  ;  the  living 
God,  the  strength  of  your  heart  and  your  portion  forever  !  My 
prayer  is,  that  your  son  may  be  preserved  as  a  crown  of  glory 
to  his  father,  a  consolation  to  his  mother,  an  ornament  to  the 
doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour,  and  therefore  a  blessing  to  the 
surrounding  world. 

You  will  not  fail  to  keep  your  promise  of  making  my  house 
the  home  of  yourself  and  any  of  your  family  when  you  visit 
New  York. 

As  ever,  yours  sincerely, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

As  an  evidence  of  the  tender  solicitude  with  which  he  watch- 
ed over  the  younger  members  of  his  flock,  take  a  note  to  one  of 
them  as  she  was  about  to  sail  for  Europe: — 

TO  MRS.  JANET  SUFFERN. 

Wakre.\  Strect,  August  31,  1814. 

My  Dear  Young  Friend:  As  you  may  have  opportunities 
of  commemorating  your  Saviour's  love  while  you  are  absent 
from  New  York,  I  enclose  you  a  certificate  of  your  church 
membership. 

I  cannot  tliink  of  parting  with  you  without  reminding  you, 
solemnly  and  affectionately,  that  you  are  the  Lord's.  Keep  in 
view  your  sacred  relation.  Derive  both  admonition  and  conso- 
lation from  this  blessed  truth,  that  wlierever  you  are,  Ood  is. 
Keep  close  to  your  Redeemer,  and  He  will  never  leave  you. 
Be  as  cheerful  as  you  please  under  the  regulation  of  this  prin- 
ciple, that  whatever  you  do  in  word  or  deed,  you  are  to  do  all 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus :  that  is,  your  general  rule  of 


404  INTERCOMMUNION   STILL   AGITATED. 

action  must  be,  that  nothing  is  fit  for  you  to  do  or  say,  which 
you  cannot  pray  your  Lord  to  bless;  and  you  are  to  commit 
your  way  unto  Him.  I  shall  only  add :  let  your  Bible  be  your 
daily  companion,  and  the  mercy-seat  of  your  Heavenly  Father, 
your  daily  resort. 

I  commend  you  and  your  husband  to  God  and  the  word  of 
His  grace.  He  who  bindeth  the  winds,  and  who  sitteth  upon 
the  floods,  have  you  both  in  His  holy  keeping;  bless  you  with 
blessings  from  heaven  above,  and  from  the  earth  below ;  and 
return  you  in  health  and  happiness  to  the  bosom  of  your  family 
and  friends  !     So  prays  your  affectionate  pastor, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  struggle  in  his  ecclesiastical  connexion  on  the  subject  of 
intercommunion,  was  both  severe  and  protracted.  In  conclusion 
of  a  letter  to  his  nephew,  Eev.  John  M.  Duncan,  dated  April, 
181-1,  he  alludes  to  it  as  follows  : — "  I  hope  your  Presbytery 
will  take  care  to  be  fully  and  luell  represented  at  the  next  Gen- 
eral Sjmod.  The  meeting  will  be  critical.  Mischief,  I  know, 
is  brewing.  We  shall  have  to  make  one  more  great  effort  for 
preserving  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free.  If 
successful,  it  will  probably  be  the  last ;  and  our  warfare  in  this 
■view  will  '  be  ended.'  If  unsuccessful  the  consequences  may  be 
very  calamitous — as  going  back  under  the  'yoke  which  neither 
we,  nor  our  fathers  could  bear,'  is  out  of  the  question.  The 
signs  of  the  times  discourage  me;  but  the  commandment  of 
God,  and  not  the  calculations  of  man,  must  regulate  our  course. 
To  be  valiant  and  victorious  in  the  cause  of  truth,  it  is  neccessary 
to  live  upon  the  Lord  our  strength^  and  to  fetch  help  from  above 
by  the  prayer  of  faith.  I  rejoice  to  hear  of  the  acceptance  with 
which  the  Master  has  pleased  to  honour  you.  Be  modest ;  be 
humble,  and  you  will  be  safe.  The  grace  of  the  crucified,  and 
the  power  of  the  risen  Saviour  be  with  you  1" 

In  May,  of  this  year  the  Synod  met  at  Greencastle,  Pa.  As 
was  expected  the  subject  of  communion  was  discussed  at  greater 
length  than  ever  before,  occupying  several  days.  The  result 
was,  that  the  following  resolutions  were  prepared  and  laid  over 
for  future  action  : — 

"Resolved,  that  communion,  as  opportunities  shall  occur,  in 


THE   SEMINARY  APPRECIATED.  406 

the  course  of  Providence,  with  churches  sound  in  the  faith,  and 
with  individual  ministers  and  Christians,  of  known  orthodoxy 
and  godly  conversation,  whatever  subordinate  differences  may 
subsist  between  them,  is  not  contrary,  but  most  conformable  to 
the  word  of  God,  and  to  the  constitution  and  standards  of  this 
church,  and  is  not  to  be  forbidden  to  the  members  thereof 

"  Resolved,  that  the  application  of  this  principle  must  be  left 
to  the  discretion  of  those  judicatories  within  whose  bounds  it 
shall  be  called  for ;  provided  that  no  practice  be  adopted  or 
indulged  which  shall  throw  open  the  door  to  promiscuous  com- 
munion with  all  who  rank  under  the  general  denomination  of 
Christians,  or  to  the  admission  of  erroneous  doctrine  into  our 

pulpits." 

Notwithstanding  the  many  embarrassing  and  counteracting 
influences  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  Dr.  Mason  must  have 
felt  not  a  little  comforted  by  the  continued  smiles  of  Providence 
upon  his  labours.  At  this  meeting  of  the  Synod  twenty-two 
students  were  reported  as  attending  the  Seminary ;  and  soon 
after  he  received  a  cheering  word  from  an  old  friend. 

TO  DR.  JIASON. 

Kew  York,  June  21st,  1814. 

l[Y  Dear  Sir  :  Your  letter  of  yesterday  I  have  received, 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  the  Public 
Fund  of  the  Theological  Seminary  under  your  care. 

I  am  willing  that  it  should  appear  on  the  minutes  of  the 
General  Synod.  Having  contributed  to  another  Seminary  a 
similar  amount,  I  should  wish  to  express  to  the  world,  so  far  as 
individual  opinion  is  worth,  that  your  Seminary  is  second  to 
none  in  its  usefulness  to  the  church  of  our  blessed  Redeemer. 

That  the  Holy  Spirit  may  pour  down  his  influence  on  your 
soul  and  the  souls  of  your  students,  and  may  accompany  with 
Divine  energy,  the  word  of  His  grace  preached  by  you  and  by 
them,  is  the  sincere  prayer  of  yours,  with  affectionate  respect, 

DIVIE  BETHUNE. 

Long  before  this  time,  Dr.  ^fason  had  learned  to  appreciate 
both  the  talents  and  the  gifts  of  Mr.  Duncan.  It  must  have 
been  with  grateful  emotions  that  he  expressed  his  present  views 


406  DR.   ROMEYN   ESTEEMED  ABROAD. 

in  a  letter  to  Mr.  James  Campbell,  an  Elder  of  the  Baltimore 
church,  dated  Oct.  24,  1814,  accompanied  with  useful  hints : 
"  My  nephew  has  met  with  general  and  deserved  acceptance  in 
our  pulpits.  I  am  sure  that  I  am  not  governed  by  partiality  to 
my  own  blood  when  I  say  that  he  rises  in  my  esteem.  I  pray 
and  hope  that  his  Eedeemer  will  keep  him  and  bless  him  to  you 
long.  Do  not  try  whether  your  kind-hearted  Baltimorians  can- 
not kill  him  by  preaching,  out  of  pure  love;  and  back  your 
importunities  by  that  common  and  unanswerable  argument — 
"  You  do  not  know  how  much  good  you  may  do !"  Eespect 
youth  and  a  weak  breast.  Cherish,  but  do  not  worship  him. 
When  he  goes  wrong,  tell  him,  not  your  acquaintances,  of  it ; 
tell  him  like  men,  like  brothers,  like  Christians,  and  you  will 
all  be  the  better  for  it,  and  more  closely  united  in  love." 

The  feelings  with  which  Dr.  Komeyn  was  received  by  the 
clergy  of  Scotland,  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  a  letter  from  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  them : — ■ 

TO  DR.  MASON. 

Glasgow,  Aug.  13,  1814. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  Most  cordially  do  I  thank  you  for  thinking 
on  me  with  any  kind  remembrance,  and  especially  for  introduc- 
ing me  to  such  a  friend  as  Dr.  Eomeyn.  I  can  assure  you  that 
(wicked  statutes  excepted)  your  epistle  of  commendation,  and  my 
previous  information  of  the  Doctor's  character,  opened  at  once 
my  hand  and  heart  and  house  to  receive  him  as  a  Christian  friend 
and  brother  in  the  ministry,  a  good  man  and  true.  I  received 
him,  I  hope,  for  the  truth's  sake.  My  only  grief  was  that  I 
could  not  pay  him  and  Mrs.  Eomeyn  the  attentions  I  wished, 
owing  to  the  absence  of  my  wife  and  daughters,  and  that  a 
wicked  statute  barred  my  pulpit  against  him.  But  I  think  I 
would  not  otherwise  be  hindered  in  the  full  exercise  of  brotherly 
love  by  a  small  thread  of  ecclesiastical  party.  Shall  we  live  to 
see  every  partition  wall  broken  down,  and  to  be  all  one  in  Christ 
Jesus?  I  am  for  holding  communion  with  all  who  hold  the 
head.  But  when  I  speak  for  such  peace,  immediately  I  hear 
the  cry  of  war.  Let  me  now  add,  upon  my  own  personal, 
though  transient  knowledge,  that  I  esteem  Dr.  Eomeyn  on  his 
own  account  worthy  of  being  everywhere  received  as  a  Chris- 


MRS.  Graham's  death.  407 

tian  and  a  minister  of  superior  endowments,  and  equal  grace 
and  zeal  in  the  service  of  our  common  Lord.  I  rejoice  also  to 
hear  of  your  continued  health  and  usefulness.  May  you  be  long 
a  burning  and  shining  light  by  personal  and  exemplary  reli- 
gion, by  a  converting  and  edifying  ministration  of  the  Word  of 
Life,  and  by  a  successful  tuition  of  young  men  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  Lord !  Many  would  be  glad  to  see  and  hear  you 
again  in  this  country ;  but  if  it  be  too  much  to  expect  this  pri- 
vilege, your  letter  by  any  friend  like  Dr.  Komeyn,  will  procure 
him  any  attention  in  our  power  to  pay. 
I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours,  truly  and  affectionately, 

ROBERT  BALFOUR, 

After  Dr.  M.  resigned  his  charge  of  the  church  in  Cedar 
street,  Mr.  Bethune,  with  his  family,  including  his  mother-in- 
law,  Mrs.  Graham,  were  transferred  to  the  Presbyterian  church 
in  the  same  street.  It  so  happened  that  during  the  absence  of 
their  pastor,  Dr.  Romeyn,  Mrs.  Gr.  died  ;  and  Dr.  Mason  was 
invited  by  the  Session  to  preach  her  funeral  sermon,  which  by 
request  from  the  same  board  was  published. 

A  copy  of  this  sermon  accompanied  a  written  acknowledg- 
ment of  an  interesting  favour  received  from  an  esteemed  minister 
in  Liverpool : — 

TO    THE    REV.  THOMAS  RAFFLES. 

New  York,  August  31,  1814. 
Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  I  duly  received  your  kind  letter  ac- 
companied by  your  Life  of  Spencer ;  and  also  the  copy  of  the 
second  edition,  which  you  sent  by  Miss  Howland.     I  beg  you 
to  accept  my  best  thanks,  while  from  my  heart  I  deplore  the 
occasion  of  our  correspondence.     I  know  of  nothing  but  the 
Christian's  faith  which  can  preserve  the  mind  steady,  or  even 
prevent  it  from  falling  into  wildering  disorder,  under  such  ca- 
lamities as  the  death  of  that  peerless  youth.     How  little  do  we 
know  of  the  ways  of  God :  or  the  best  method  of  managing 
the  affairs  of  his  church  ?     We  wish  to  govern  the  world ;  and 
glorious  governors  we  should  make  !     Nothing  more  is  want- 
ing to  show  that  we  should  do  almost  everything  wrong  if  we 
were  permitted  to  have  our  own  choice,  than  this  fact,  that  we 


408  THE   REV.   THOMAS  SPENCER. 

should  do  almost  everything  different  from  the  wisdom  of  God. 
For  example,  we  should  have  kept  Spencer  on  earth,  and  God 
saw  it  best  to  take  him  to  heaven.  Our  consolation,  dear  Sir, 
is,  that  the  Lord  Jesns,  the  head  of  his  church,  lives  ;  and  lives 
for  her ;  that  his  spirit  shall  never  cease  to  animate  his  own 
body.  She  is  rich,  very  rich,  when  in  consideration  of  what 
she  possesses  in  Christ,  she  can  afford  to  lose  such  youths  as 
Spencer.  Sealed  be  our  lips  in  humble  submission.  We  shall 
understand  this  matter  better  hereafter. 

I  have  nothing  at  present  to  offer  your  notice  except  a  Ser- 
mon, just  from  the  press,  on  the  death  of  an  old  disciple.  It  is 
the  only  funeral  sermon  I  ever  preached. 

The  gentleman  who,  I  hope,  will  deliver  this,  is  Mr.  Suffern 
of  very  respectable  character.  He  married  a  few  days  ago, 
Miss  Janet  Wilson,  of  this  city.  She  is  an  amiable  young 
lady,  and  has  been  one  of  my  flock  since  her  birth.  Should 
an  opportunity  of  communion  in  the  Supper  of  our  Lord  occur 
while  she  is  in  Liverpool,  I  commend  her  to  your  fellowship. 
She  has  for  some  time  been  one  of  our  communicants. 
With  much  respect,  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

Your  brother  in  the  Gospel, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

His  sister,  in  Kentucky,  losing  her  only  daughter,  a  child  of 
very  uncommon  promise,  drew  from  him  a  most  feeling  ex- 
pression of  sympathy : — 

TO  MES.  MARGARETTA  BROWN. 

New  York,  October  29,  1814. 
My  Beloved  Sister:  The  heart-rending  news  of  your 
recent  bereavement  reached  us  yesterday  afternoon.  Bereave- 
ment indeed !  I  feel  it  sorely ;  but  what  is  my  anguish  to 
yours?  Few  mothers  have  so  precious  and  promising  a 
daughter  to  lose.  I  had  fondly  cherished  her  in  my  tenderest 
affections  as  destined  to  be  hereafter  a  crown  of  beauty  and  of 
blessing  to  our  whole  family.  The  Lord — yes,  the  Lord  cur 
God — yes,  God  our  Heavenl}^  ^aifAer — has  judged  otherwise; 
and  judged  better.  So  saith  his  word:  "He  doeth  all  things 
well" — he  hath  done  this  thing,  this  grievous  thing — this  un- 
looked  for,  overwhelming  thing — he  hath  done  even  this  thing 
"  welV^     So  says  our  faith^  believing  in  his  word.     But,  ah  ! 


DEATH   OF   A   DAUGIITEE.  409 

how  hard  to  get  the  amen  of  our  hearts.     Yet,  I  trust,  my 
sister  and  brother,  like  their  sweet  sainted  babe,  will  be  enabled 
to  humble  themselves  under  the  hand  of  God.     His  voice  in 
this   dispensation  is,    "Be  still   and    know  that   I   am   God." 
Submission  is   your  first  duty;  importunate  supplication  for 
sanctified  chastisement,  your  next.     You  have  often  prayed, 
"  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven."    Fret  not 
that  he  has  put  you  to  the  test  of  your  own  petition.     But 
"glorify  the  Lord  in  the  fires;  ....  and  you  shall  find  him 
for  a  sanctuary.^'     Here,  my  sister,  is  your  refuge.     Vain  and 
impertinent,  to  a  heart  bleeding  under  such  a  stroke  as  has  been 
inflicted  on  yours,  are  the  consolations  of  earth.     All  that  the 
very  dearest  friends  can  impart,    must  be  brought  from  the 
storehouse  of  heavenly  compassions.     There  is  only  one  friend 
who  can  heal  the  broken  heart ;  and  that  friend,  more  gracious 
than  the  children  of  men,  or  the  pure  spirits  of  light,  is  our 
Brother  and  our   Advocate  before  the  mercy  seat — who  has 
given  for  us,  and  to  us,  unutterably  more  than  he  will  ever 
take,  or  permit  to  be  taken  from  us.     We  know  not  how  rich, 
how  divine  his  promises  are,  till  we  be  placed  in  circumstances 
to  which  they  are  peculiarly  fitted.     Sit  at  his  feet,  my  sister, 
and  put  in  your  claim  upon  his  loving  kindness,  in  this  your 
hour  of  tribulation.     Make  your  appeal  to  his  sympathy— that 
sympathy  which  called  forth  his  tears — marvellous  fact! — the 
tears  of  the  Lord  Jesus! — to  mingle  with  the  tears  of  a  sister 
at  her  brother's  grave.     Tell  him  he  hath  commanded  you  to 
"call  upon  him  in  the  day  of  trouble,"  and  hath  promised  to 
answer  you.     Tell  him  that  he  has  assured  the  seekers  of  his 
ilice,  that  if  he  chastens  them,  it  is  "for  their  profit,  that  they 
may  be  partakers  of  his  holiness  ;"  that  he  has  written  in  his 
blessed  book,  "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee,"  and 
that  now  you  need  his  help  ;  that  he  has  promised  "  all  things 
to  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  him ;"  and  that 
your  grieved   soul   looks   to   him   for  the  peaceable  fruits  of 
righteousness  even  from  that  baleful  tree  which  now  throws  over 
you  its  chilling  and  darksome  shade.     Trust  him,  dearest  sister. 
Trust  him  while  you  ask ;  and  your  eyes  shall  see  his  salvation ; 
and  your  lips  shall  sing  of  his  power;  they  shall  sing,   "It  is 
eood  for  me  that  I  was  afflicted." 


410  DEATH   OF  A  STUDENT. 

It  is  the  present  duty  of  us  all  to  consider  the  doings  of  the 
Lord.  He  hath  smitten  our  family  with  a  double  stroke.  Little 
did  I  think  on  the  30th  September,  when  I  closed  the  eyes  of 
our  cousin,  John  Varick,  that  the  eyes  of  your  little  cherub 
were  to  be  closed  the  next  morning.  I  cast  my  eyes  around 
upon  my  own,  and  my  heart  trembles.  It  is  almost  too  much  to 
hope  that  my  seven  shall  all  be  spared  till  I  be  called  hence — 
I  would  wish  to  say — home.  My  prayer,  "  which  goeth  not 
out  of  feigned  lips,"  is,  "  Holy  Father,  give  preparation  to  the 
one  that  shall  go  next !"  I  desire  to  sit  loose  to  comforts  that  I 
must  part  with  ;  at  least  for  this  world.  I  would  have  no  idols, 
though  I  feel  the  idolatrous  principle  at  work  within  me.  The 
good  Lord  subdue  it  in  us  all!  Meanwhile  you  have  ground 
of  joy — joy  that  you  have  a  Father  into  whose  bosom  you  can 
pour  out  your  sorrows — ^joy  that  you  have  grounds  of  persua- 
sion that  Euphemia  has  exchanged  your  society  for  that  of  the 
little  ones  of  whom  is  the  kingdom,  and  of  him  who  is  the  Lord 
of  the  kingdom.  It  was  good  for  her  to  be  with  you ;  it  is  in- 
finitely better  for  her  to  be  with  Christ.  May  he  strengthen 
and  support  you  and  your  afflicted  husband  with  heavenly  sup- 
port! I  need  not  tell  you  how  deeply  this  family  shares  with 
you,  and  none  more  deeply  than  your  affectionate  brother, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  death  of  a  respected  student  in  the  Seminary  called  forth 
the  following  comforting  lines  to  his  father  in  Kentucky : — 

TO  ME.  JOHN  VEECH. 

New  York,  October  31,  1814. 

Dear  Sir  :  On  the  loth  instant,  I  wrote  you  a  letter  apprizing 
you  of  your  son's  illness.  Our  hopes  were  much  elated  the 
next  morning,  (Lord's  day)  ;  but  the  flattering  appearances 
vanished  towards  evening.  He  grew  much  worse  on  Monday. 
On  Tuesday  morning,  a  little  after  six  o'clock,  he  calmly  yield- 
ed up  his  spirit  into  the  hands  of  his  Heavenly  Father.  His 
remains  were  deposited  in  the  ministers'  vault  of  the  Murray 
Street  Church  ;  and  were  followed  by  a  considerable  number  of 
very  respectable  citizens. 

While  many  circumstances  concur  to  render  this  dispensation 


DEATH    OF   A   STUDENT.  411 

of  Divine  Providence  very  trying  to  his  absent  relatives,  there 
are  others  calculated  to  soothe  and  comfort  them.  No  human 
efforts  were  spared.  No  person  could  receive  more  patient, 
kind,  and  tender  attention.  The  affectionate  vigilance  of  his 
fellow  students  was  unwearied  by  day  and  by  night,  to  the  very 
last.  You  have  lost  much,  my  dear  Sir,  in  such  a  son.  I  have 
lost  much  in  such  a  pupil.  The  Seminary  has  lost  an  orna- 
ment ;  the  youth  who  resort  to  it,  a  friend  ;  the  church,  one  of 
her  promising  children.  But  it  is  the  Lord  !  We  are  not  for- 
bidden to  weep ;  but  we  may  not  repine.  Entire,  absolute 
submission  to  the  Master's  will,  was  the  prevailing  desire  of 
your  James.  That  will  was  to  take  him  home.  It  is  all  right. 
What  we  have  lost,  the  skies  have  gained.  You  have  reason 
to  rejoice  that  he  left  ample  evidence  of  preparation  for  enter- 
ing upon  the  "  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light."  He  was 
incoherent  and  flighty  on  other  subjects ;  but  always  collected, 
always  himself,  on  eternal  things.  The  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
or  mention  of  a  promise  from  the  Bible,  brought  him  instantly 
back  from  his  wanderings.  "  My  beloved  Eedeemer,"  v/ere 
among  his  last  expressions  heard  by  me.  Be  not  then  cast 
down ;  but  rather  give  thanks. 

Yours,  truly, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


CHAPTEK    XXXII. 
1814—1813. 

THE    OENERAL    SYNOD.      LETTERS. 

The  Seminary— A  New  Question  in  the  Synod— Letter  to  Ebenezer  Clark,  Esq. 
—Letter  to  Kev.  J.  McJimsey— Letter  from  Dr.  Raffles,  Liverpool. 

At  the  meeting  of  tlie  Synod  in  May,  1814,  the  subject  of  inter- 
communion again  came  up,  but  still  without  any  decisive  result. 
In  the  mean  time  Dr.  Mason  continued  his  labours,  with  undi- 
minished success.  The  Board  of  Superintendents  reported  the 
names  of  twenty-nine  students  in  the  Seminary ;  twelve  of  whom 
were  from  other  denominations  than  the  Associate  Eeformed 
Church. 

At  this  meeting  a  new  question  was  introduced,  involving  a 
very  important  principle  of  church  polity,  which  has  since  that 
time  repeatedly  presented  itself  in  different  communities  and 
various  forms,  and  which  is  likely  at  some  future  day  to  exert 
a  far  more  extensive  influence.  It  also  gave  occasion  for  the 
interchange  of  several  letters  between  Dr.  Mason  and  his  friends. 
As  the  minutes  declare,  it  was  introduced  by  Dr.  Gray  and 
seconded  by  Mr,  James  Mairs,  in  the  words  following: — 

"  Eesolved — That  a  Committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  Scriptural  warrant  and  practical  effects  of  Trustee  Boards, 
acting  under  civil  incorporations,  in  the  Church  of  God." 

By  this  arrangement,  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  church  are 
liable  to  be  seriously  affected,  if  not  controlled,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  by  men  who  are  but  ill  qualified  either  to  under- 
stand their  nature  or  to  appreciate  their  value.  If  the  civil 
organization  of  a  country,  with  its  manners  and  customs,  Avere 
thoroughly  permeated  and  imbued  with  evangelical  principles 
and  spirit,  the  danger  would  unquestionably  be  less ;  but  in 
the  actual  and  prospective  state  of  things,  there  are  at  least 


TKUSTEE   BOARDS.  413 

Strong  grounds  of  apprehension.  So  far  as  the  testimony  of 
history  goes,  every  form  of  connexion  between  church  and 
state  has  proved  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  the  former. 
If  secular  men  are  invested  with  power  in  the  church,  they  are 
likely  to  introduce  secular  elements.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  church  and  its  officers  are  invested  with  civil  power  of  any 
sort  or  in  any  degree,  they  are  in  great  danger  of  soon  con- 
tracting a  secular  savour.  Many  striking  instances  could  easily 
be  add°uced.  Dr.  Mason,  in  his  later  days,  became  strongly 
inclined  to  this  opinion — as.  we  may  see  in  a  letter  to  his 
friend, 

EBENEZER    CLARKE,  Esq.,  AEGYLE. 

New  York,  August  7,  1815. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  kind  letter  of  the  31st  ult.,  requesting 
information  relative  to  certain  transactions  at  our  last  meeting 
of  Synod,  and  other  matters  connected  therewith,  came  to  hand 
on  Saturday,  the  5th  instant. 

If  I  had  not  been  for  many  years  accustomed  to  the  strangest 
misconceptions  and  misrepresentations  of  the  plainest  things,  I 
should  have  been  beyond  measure  astonished  at  the  reports  and 
statements  mentioned  in  your  letter.  My  reverend  brother  James 
Mairs  is  incapable  of  a  wilful  departure  from  the  truth  ;  but  in 
the  present  instance,  he  has  not  been  quite  accurate.     No  pro- 
position was  introduced  into  the  Synod  for  abolishing  religious 
incorporations ;  nor  did  /  introduce  any  proposition  whatever 
about  them.     I  have  long  entertained  doubts  of  their  expedi- 
ency ;  indeed  ever  since  we  failed  in  our  attempt  to  get  an  act 
of  incorporation  for  our  General  Synod.     I  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  supposing  them  to  be  valuable  accommodations.     Tliat 
disappointment  however  led  me  to  examine  more  close]y  into 
their  use.     I  soon  began  to  waver.     I  enquired  and  pondered, 
without  saying  much  ;   and  the  result  has  been  a  conviction, 
that,  instead  of  a  benefit,  they  are  a  great  evil  to  the  church  of 
God;  that  they  are,  as  now  regulated,  inconsistent  with  her  na- 
ture ;   and  contain  the  germ,  to  he  hereafter  evolved,  of  the  most 
corrui)t   and    profligate  patronage— a    patronage    Avhich    may 
ultimately  prostrate   the   kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
at  the  feet  of  political  deraagogaes.     Such   being  the  state  of 


414  TRUSTEE   BOARDS. 

ray  views,  I  mentioned  them  to  Dr.  Gray,  and  found  that  he 
had  come,  by  a  different  route,  to  the  same  conclusion.  There 
had  been  no  concert  between  us,  till  both  our  opinions  were 
formed.  Nor  did  the  one  know  of  the  process  which  was  going 
on  in  the  other's  mind,  until  it  was  nearly  finished.  In  conse- 
quence of  these  things,  Dr.  Gray  introduced  into  the  Synod  a 
motion,  not  to  abolish,  but  to  appoint  a  committee  to  inquire  into 
the  nature  and  tendency  of  civil  incorporations  in  the  Church  of 
God.  This  motion  I  strenuously  supported.  In  the  course  of 
discussion,  we  declared  ourselves  without  reserve.  The  subject 
was  new;  the  brethren  were  startled;  but  everything  was  per- 
fectly calm  and  friendly.  The  motion  passed  with  only  one 
"No."  And  Dr.  Gray,  Silas  E.  Weir,  and  myself,  were  appoint- 
ed a  Committee  to  report  on  the  subject. 

In  mentioning  some  facts  to  show  the  facility  with  which  the 
power  of  the  Trustee  Board  may  be  applied  to  control  and  co- 
erce the  spiritual  authority  and  privileges  of  the  church,  I 
stated  an  occurrence  which  had  taken  place  in  my  own  congre- 
gation. It  was  this:  "When  the  news  of  Bonaparte's  deposi- 
tion arrived,  it  was  proposed  to  celebrate  the  deliverance  of 
Europe  by  a  fete,  accompanied  with  an  oration,  and  with  pub- 
lic thanksgiving  to  God  for  his  goodness.  The  committee  of 
arrangements  asked  for  the  use  of  my  place  of  worship,  and 
requested  me  to  perform  the  religious  part  of  the  service.  I 
agreed  with  pleasure ;  for  I  was  glad,  and  could  give  thanks 
with  my  whole  heart.  I  told  them  I  had  no  doubt  of  their  get- 
ting the  church ;  but  should  consult  the  Trustees,  and  send  an 
answer  at  twelve  o'clock.  I  saw  the  chairman,  and  one  or  two 
other  members  ;  no  objection  was  offered  ;  and  I  sent  the  prom- 
ised notice.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  Board  met,  and  a 
few  minutes  after  twelve,  I  received  information,  that  they  had 
refused  the  use  of  the  church.  This  refusal  induced  me  to  think 
further  on  the  subject  of  Trustee  Boards  ;  and  I  reasoned  thus  : 
"Here  was  a  moral  and  religious  service  to  be  performed.  I 
was  myself  to  officiate.  The  Trustees  lock  up  the  doors  of  the 
church  ;  i.  e.  the  civil  i7icor2Joration  have,  on  their  own  authority 
shut  me  out  of  my  oivn  place  of  public  worship.  If  they  can  do 
this,  in  one  instance,  they  can  in  another.  If  one  set  of  Trustees 
can  do  it,  every  other  set  can.     So  that  the  principle  of  their 


TRUSTEE   BOARDS.  415 

refusal  is,  that  the  civil  incorporation  can  turn  minister  and  peo- 
ple out  of  the  church  whenever  they  please  ;  and  there  is  no  reme- 
dy but  the  plague  of  a  law-suit,  or  the  ruinously  slow  process 
of  a  new  election."  That  my  Trustees  had  any  such  intention 
— that  they  meant  any  personal  disrespect  to  me — that  they 
were  distinctly  aware  of  the  principle  wrapped  up  in  their  act, 
— I  no  more  believe,  than  I  believe  they  meant  to  blow  us  all 
np  with  gunpowder.  But  this  does  not  alter  the  nature  of  the 
principle  itself.  In  this  form,  and  in  this  only,  did  I  urge  it 
on  the  floor  of  Synod.  As  to  the  story  about  the  tokens — 
about  my  variance  with  the  Trustees — and  their  shutting  the 
church  against  me  on  that  account — it  is  all  a  fabrication. 
I  never  had  a  moment's  interruption  of  the  harmony  between 
myself  and  the  Trustees,  or  the  session,  or  the  congregation. 
I  have  said,  that  I  shall  bring  the  power  of  the  Trustees  in 
this  matter  to  the  test ;  that,  if  they  have  it  not,  they  may 
not  acquire  it  b}^  unintentional  usurpation  ;  and  if  they  have, 
that  speedy  measures  may  be  taken  to  destroy  it,  before  its 
grizzle  shall  harden  into  bone,  and  the  paws  of  the  cub  be 
armed  with  fangs.  I  have  said,  that  I  will  never  again  ask  the 
Trustees  whether  any,  and  if  any,  what  moral  and  religious 
exercises  shall  be  held  in  the  house  of  worship ;  and  shall  sub- 
mit such  questions  to  the  Spiritual  authority  only. 

I  perceive  that  your  folks  of  "  one  line,"  are  something  like 
an  old  woman  in  Mr.  Craig's  congregation  in  Kentucky,  who, 
when  two  lines  happened  to  be  given  out  at  once,  rose  up  and 
cried  that  she  "  would  have  no  such  doings  there :  that  she 
would  have  none  but  David's  psalms,  David's  times^  and  David's 
way  of  lining!  I  P''  The  attempt  by  the  congregation  in  mass 
to  wrest  the  authority  in  matters  of  worship  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Session,  is  a  more  serious  affair ;  and  must  be  resisted. 
Our  popular  notions  infest  everything  with  the  poison  of  their 
licentiousness.  If  matters  go  on,  as  they  have  been  going  on 
for  some  years  back,  hardlj^  one  of  God's  institutions  will  be 
left  standing  in  the  country.  Domestic,  civil,  and  religious 
government  will  fall  victims  to  their  frenzy.  All  will  be  mob; 
all  will  be  chaos.  The  good  Lord  rebuke  the  devourer!  Grace 
be  with  you.  Yours,  affectionately, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


416  ESTIMATE   OF   MRS.    GRAHAM. 


TO  THE  REV.  J.  McJIMSEY, 

New  York,  November  17,  1815. 

My  Dear  Brother  :  I  rejoice  witli  you  in  the  comfortable 
changes  which  God's  merciful  providence  has  effected  in  your 
condition.  When  I  last  saw  you,  your  prospects  were  very 
dark.  But  the  pillar  of  cloud  to  sense,  is  a  pillar  of  fire  to 
faith.  We  agreed  in  the  blessedness  of  waiting.  "  He  that 
believetli  shall  not  make  haste."  You  found,  my  dear  friend, 
the  comfort  of  having  liberty  to  cast  your  "burden  upon  the 
Lord."  He  is  "faithful  that  hath  promised."  He  has  brought 
you  out  of  your  afliiction.  0  my  brother,  there  is  no  life  like 
the  life  of  faith !  Nothing  so  sweet  as  the  enjoyments  which 
faith  receives  at  the  hand  of  the  "  Hearer  of  prayer."  What 
a  miracle  !  A  poor  sinner  in  darkness  and  the  deeps,  settled, 
serene,  and  happy,  by  the  power  of  that  "precious  faith"  which 
is  "  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen."  Let  us  keep  it  in  constant  action.  It  is  the 
mighty  lever  (God's  eternal  faithfulness  in  Christ  Jesus,  being 
the  prop)  which  moves  the  world.  And  every  believer  in  the 
use  of  it,  is  a  spiritual  Archimedes.  Dear  friend,  having  such 
encouragement,  let  us  aim  at  walking  close  with  God,  and  God 
will  assuredly  walk  with  us.  And  then,  whom  or  what  shall 
we  fear  ?  Affectionately  yours, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

An  estimate  of  Mrs.  Graham,  beautifully  expressed  by  Dr. 
Raffles,  is  worth  preserving : — 

TO   THE  KEY.  DR.  MASON. 

Liverpool,  February  9,  1815. 

Eev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  I  duly  received  your  kind  letter  and 
its  valuable  accompaniment  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  Suffern,  who 
made  a  very  short  stay  here,  and  proceeded  to  the  north.  For 
your  admirable  Sermon,  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  warmest 
thanks.  Mrs.  Graham  must  have  been  an  extraordinary  char- 
acter. Some  of  our  friends  here  knew  her,  and  though  your 
description  is  so  glowing,  they  assure  me  that  it  is  by  no  means 
overcharged.  What  a  woman  must  the  original  of  sucli  a  pic- 
ture have  been !     Her  removal  must  have  produced  a  powerful 


VALUE  OF  GOOD  EXAMPLES.  417 

sensation  in  tlie  citj  wliere  she  lived ;  and  the  void  occasioned 
by  it  will  probably  long  remain  unoccupied.  These  are  high 
examples  for  our  imitation.  They  beam  upon  us  in  such  me- 
morials of  their  worth,  as  in  this  case  you  have  presented  to 
the  world,  like  rays  from  the  source  of  moral  excellence 
and  beauty,  to  animate  and  to  direct  us  in  our  journey  to  the 
skies.  Our  divine  Eedeemer  demands  our  grateful  acknow- 
ledgments in  the  first  instance  for  his  own  illustrious  pattern  ; 
and  then  for  the  "  cloud  of  witnesses"  by  which  he  has  sur- 
rounded us.  May  we  be  followers  of  them  loho  through  faith  and 
patience  inherit  the  promises  ! 

Your  very  obliged  and  faithful  friend  and  servant, 

THOMAS  RAFFLES.     ' 


27 


CHAPTEE    XXXIII. 
1816. 

PREPARATION   FOR  A  VOYAGE. 

Resignation  of  his  Provostship — Proceedings  of  the  Synod — Overture  to  the  Re. 
formed  Dutch  Church — Convention  of  Commissioners  from  the  two  Churches 
— -Treatise  on  Communion — Hall's  Commendation — American  Bible  Society — 
Letter  from  Mr.  Jay — Commission  to  Kindred  Institutions  Abroad — Letters  on 
Leaving — Parting  Scene. 

For  years  the  powers  of  Dr.  Mason  had  been  overtaxed  with 
duties,  when  at  length  he  felt  himself  sinking  under  their 
weight.  In  May,  1816,  he  was  compelled,  notwithstanding  the 
ardour  and  resoluteness  of  his  mind,  to  seek  release  from  some 
of  his  engagements,  and  a  temporary  suspension  of  them  all. 

His  first  intimation  was  made  to  the  Trustees  of  Columbia 
College  in  a  communication  tendering  his  resignation  as  Provost 
of  that  institution.  This  office  he  had  nearly  five  years  before 
been  induced  to  accept  by  a  strong  desire  to  carry  out  his  views 
of  classical  education,  and  by  other  reasons  of  great  force.  He 
now  felt  compelled  to  own,  that  the  undertaking,  in  addition  to 
his  other  duties,  was  too  much.  "My  labours,"  he  says  in  his 
letter  to  the  Trustees,  "need  reduction.  In  choosing  between 
the  part  to  be  retained  and  the  part  to  be  relinquished,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  view  them  in  their  several  bearings,  and  to 
weigh  the  arguments  on  either  side.  The  result  is  a  persuasion, 
that  it  is  my  duty  to  retire  from  the  College." 

This  conclusion  he  made  known  to  the  people  of  his  church 
and  congregation,  and  at  the  same  time  obtained  their  assent  to 
the  recommendation  of  his  medical  advisers  for  an  absence  of 
several  months. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE   SYNOD.  419 

The  proceedings  of  the  General  Synod  in  relation  to  the  same 
matter  is  thus  recorded  in  their  minutes : — 

"  Dr.  Mason  stated,  that  his  health  has  become  so  seriously 
impaired,  in  consequence  of  the  burden  of  his  public  laboursi 
that  he  found  it  necessary  to  lighten  the  pressure  ;  and  has  ac- 
cordingly determined  to  resign  the  office  of  Provost  in  Columbia 
College;  that  his  own  judgment,  as  well  as  the  opinions  of 
medical  men,  whom  he  has  consulted,  decides  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  take  a  voyage  to  Europe  as  furnishing  the  most  probable 
means  of  effecting  a  restoration  of  his  health  ;  but  that  as  the 
accomplishment  of  such  a  voyage  will  necessarily  prevent  his 
services  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  the  next  session,  he 
wishes  to  have  the  approbation  of  this  Synod  to  the  contem- 
plated measure."     He  then  withdrew. 

"Whereupon,  on  motion  of  Dr.  Gray, 

"Eesolved,  that  this  Synod,  deeply  sensible  of  the  important 
and  laborious  services  which  their  brother.  Dr.  Mason,  has  been 
enabled  to  render  to  the  church  of  God,  and  to  the  literature  of 
the  country,  sincerely  sympathize  with  him  in  the  present 
reduced  and  broken  state  of  his  health ;  that  they  not  only 
acquiesce  in  the  measure  proposed  for  his  recovery,  but  are 
desirious  that  it  should  be  carried  into  effect  without  delay;  and 
they  pray  that  the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls  may 
have  their  beloved  brother  in  His  holy  keeping  ;  and,  if  such  be 
the  Divine  will,  restore  him  in  due  season  to  the  enjoyment  of 
health,  and  to  his  services  in  the  church  of  God. 

"  The  following  was  moved  by  Mr.  Stewart  and  unanimously 
adopted : 

"  It  being  well  known  that  The  Rev.  Dr.' John  M.  Mason 
has  been  employed  now  for  eleven  years  as  Professor  in  our 
Theological  Seminary,  without  receiving  any  pecuniary  com- 
pensation for  his  services ;  and  whereas.  Dr.  Mason's  health  has 
become  seriously  impaired  by  the  pressure  of  his  many  duties, 
among  which  those  of  the  professorship  have  contributed  their 
fall  share  ;  and  whereas,  Dr.  Mason  proposes  a  transatlantic 
voyage  as  a  means  of  recovering  his  health,  from  which  it  is  a 
matter  of  uncertainty  whether  a  Holy  Providence  shall  permit 
him  to  return  and  resume  the  duties  of  his  professorship  ; 
therefore 


420  UNION  OF  EVANGELICAL   CHRISTIANS. 

"  Eesolved,  That  the  Synod  embrace  the  present  opportunity 
to  testif)^,  as  it  hereby  does,  the  high  sense  which  it  entertains 
of  the  disinterested  devotedness  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Mason  to  the 
interests  of  this  church,  in  gratuitously  discharging  the  impor- 
tant duties  of  his  professorship ;  to  tender  him  their  acknow- 
ledgments for  the  same,  and  to  pray  him  to  accept  as  a  token  of 
tlieir  respect  and  esteem,  and  as  a  pledge  of  their  disposition  to 
remunerate  his  services  much  more  liberally  if  they  had  the 
means,  five  hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  out  of  any  moneys  ap- 
propriated to  the  current  expenses  of  the  Theological 
Semjinary." 

At  the  same  meeting,  a  measure  was  proposed  b}'-  Dr.  Mason, 
which  fally  illustrated  his  catholic  principles  and  feelings. 

For  many  years,  the  desirableness  of  a  closer  union  between 
different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country, 
had  been  extensively  felt.  Untrammelled  by  any  legal  estab- 
lishment, enjoying  entire  religious  freedom,  and  mingling 
together  in  the  most  unrestrained  social  relations  and  inter- 
course, it  was  difficult  for  reflecting  men  to  find  sufficien 
reason  for  remaining  in  separate  ecclesiastical  communions. 
Difference  of  nationality  was  seen  to  be  no  bar  to  political 
"union  ;  why  then  should  it  keep  churches  apart — especially 
when  they  were  agreed  in  doctrine,  government,  and  modes  of 
worship  ?  During  the  life  of  Dr.  Mason's  father,  as  we  have 
seen,  various  attempts  were  made  to  wipe  this  reproach  from 
the  Christian  name.  The  same  tendency  of  things  was  often 
made  visible  afterwards.  As  early  as  1802,  the  Eev.  Ebenezer 
Dickey  wrote  from  Philadelphia  in  these  words  :  "  There  is 
one  subject  on  which  I  would  be  glad  to  have  your  sentiments, 
viz.,  a  union  between  our  Synod  and  the  General  Assembly.  I 
find  a  disposition  towards  it  is  ardently  growing  among  a  num- 
ber of  our  people  in  this  quarter.  It  prevails  much  in  this  con- 
gregation, {i.  e.  the  Associate  Eeformed  in  Philadelphia).  There 
is  a  probability  that  some  proposition  of  this  nature  may  be 
brought  before  the  General  Synod  at  their  first  meeting.  It  is 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Annan,  which  he  has  openly  expressed,  and 
frequently  to  me  in  private  conversation,  that  such  a  thing 
ought  to  be  brought  about.  My  own  mind  is  not  fully  decided. 
I  am  not  so   much  in  favour  of  it  as  to  fall  in  with  active 


OVERTURES   TO   THE   DUTCH  CHURCH.  421 

measures  to  promote  it ;  and  even  in  private  conversation  to 
countenance  it.  Nor  do  I  feel  at  liberty  to  make  any  firm  stand 
in  opposition.  Any  thing  liasty  would  certainly  be  very  ira. 
proper.  But  vsrould  it  be  wrong  to  adopt  such  measures  (with 
all  caution  and  prudence)  as  may  tend  in  time  to  mature  a 
coalescence  ?" 

Such  tendencies  were  afterwards  much  strengthened  no  doubt 
by  the  discussion  which  had  arisen  in  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church  on  the  subject  of  Sacramental  Communion,  between 
different  denominations.  Under  such  influences  the  way  seemed 
prepared  for  effecting  a  nearer  union  between  two  ecclesiastical 
bodies  which  had  long  evinced  an  affinity  with  each  other  both  in 
spirit  and  in  views  of  truth.  Under  such  auspicious  circum- 
stances, Dr.  Mason,  seconded  by  Dr.  A.  Proudfit,  moved  the 
following : — 

"Eesolved,  That  be,  and  they  are,  hereby 

appointed,  as  Commissioners  on  the  part  of  this  Synod,  to  meet 
with  Commissioners  to  be  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Eeformed  Dutch  Church  (provided  it  shall  be 
agreeable  to  that  reverend  body),  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
whether  any,  and  if  any,  what  measures  may  be  adopted  for 
extending  the  good  understanding  happily  subsisting  between 
the  two  churches ;  and  for  combining  their  effe)rts  in  some  eflS- 
cient  cooperation  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom ;  and  that  the  said  Commissioners  report  their  pro- 
ceedings in  the  premises  to  this  Synod  at  its  next  meeting." 

The  day  following,  this  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted, 
and  the  blank  filled  with  the  names  of  Mr.  Dickey,  Dr.  Proudfit, 
Dr.  Mason,  Ministers;  Mr.  Joseph  Nourse,  and  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Clark,  Ruling  Elders. 

"  Dr.  Mason  was  appointed  to  prepare  the  draft  of  a  friendly 
and  respectful  communication  to  be  addressed  by  this  Synod  to 
the  Ceneral  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  to  be 
presented  by  the  above  Commissioners. 

"The  member  having  retired,  returned  and  presented  the 
following,  which  was  adopted  : — 


422  ADDRESS   TO   THE   DUTCH   SYNOD. 


"  To  the  Rev.  Proeses  and  members  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church — the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church  wish  grace,  m,^rcy  and  peace  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ: 

" Keverend  AND  Beloved  Brethren:  In  considering  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  their  aspect  towards  the  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  we  have  been  forcibly  impressed,  not  only 
with  the  desirableness,  but  also  with  the  necessity,  of  a  public 
cooperation,  in  counsel  and  action,  by  those  churches  whose 
relative  circumstances  render  it  practicable.  And  we  have 
thought  that  with  the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us,  it  may 
perhaps  be  effected  between  your  churches  and  ours  with  mu- 
tual benefit,  and  to  the  glory  of  His  blessed  name.  "We  are, 
and  always  have  been  one,  in  the  doctrine  which  is  according 
to  Godliness,  Our  fathers,  in  those  searching  times  when  the 
faithful  were  called  to  endure,  for  the  elect's  sake,  bonds  and 
imprisonment,  and  even  to  the  testimony  of  their  blood,  were 
hearty  and  generous  supporters  of  each  other.  Their  descend- 
ants, to  this  hour,  have  obtained  mercy  to  abide  in  the  old  paths, 
the  good  way  wherein  they  walked,  and  found  rest  to  their  souls. 
We  have  ourselves  lived  in  harmony  ;  our  intercourse  unimbit- 
tered  with  collision  and  strife ;  and  have  been  enabled,  in  a 
comfortable  degree,  to  exemplify  that  Divine  declaration,  'Be- 
hold how  good  and  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity  !'  Our  churches  have  enjoyed  hitherto  the  singular 
favour  of  exemption  from  the  contamination  of  false  doctrine. 
These  things,  added  to  the  loud  call  of  God  our  Saviour  to  con- 
tend earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  have 
turned  our  regards  in  an  especial  manner  to  you,  and  have  ex- 
cited a  hope  that  such  an  understanding  and  concurrence  may 
be  produced,  as  shall  redound  to  the  greater  advancement  of 
his  grace  and  truth. 

"In  order  to  ascertain  this  point,  we  have  judged  it  to  be  our 
duty,  reverend  and  honoured,  to  propose  an  appointment  of 
Commissioners  from  our  two  General  Synods,  to  meet  and  con- 
sult on  this  interesting  subject ;  and  we  do  most  respectfully 
and  affectionately  crave  your  agreement   thereto.      In  which 


ARTICLES   OF   AGREEMENT.  423 

case  we  have  chosen  our  reverend  and  respected  brethren,  Mr 
Ebenezer  Dickey,  Dr.  Alexander  Proudfit,  and  Dr.  John  M 
Mason,  Ministers;  together  with  Mr.  Joseph  Nourse  and  Mr, 
Ebenezer  Clark,  Ruling  Elders^  as  Commissioners  on  our  part 
to  meet  with  such  Commissioners  as  you  may  be  pleased  to  ap 
point,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  on  Thursday,  the  thirteenth  day 
of  June  next ;  which  will  further  appear  by  the  extracts  from 
our  minutes  herewith  transmitted. 

"  Eeverend  and  Honoured  : 

"  Our  hearts'  desire  and  prayer  is,  that  our  Heavenly  Father 
may  continue  among  you,  in  its  purity  and  power,  that  holy 
truth  of  his  which  has  been  your  inheritance  for  ages — that  he 
would  bless  you  and  keep  you — that  he  would  lift  up  his  coun- 
tenance upon  you,  and  give  you  abundance  of  peace  ;  and  that 
he  would  so  direct  our  counsels,  and  influence  our  hearts,  as 
that  we  may  rejoice  together  in  a  holy  concert,  as  fellow- 
workers  with  him. 

"  In  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  General  Synod  of 
the  Associate  Reformed  Church." 

A  response  to  this  communication  was  made  by  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Dutch  Church,  in  the  appointment  of  Dr.  J.  H. 
Livingston,  Dr.  Solomon  Froeligh,  and  Dr.  James  S.  Cannon, 
Ministers^  and  Messrs.  Henry  Rutgers  and  James  Striker,  Elders, 
as  Commissioners  to  act  on  their  part. 

A  meeting  was  accordingly  held  at  New  York,  June  14th, 
1816,  at  which  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston  acted  as  President  and 
Dr.  J.  M.  Mason  as  Secretary ;  and  articles,  looking  towards  a 
nearer  union  and  cooperation  were  matured  to  be  submitted  to 
their  respective  Synods, 

These  articles  were  as  follows : 

"  1.  The  Reformed  Dutch  Church  and  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church,  being  bound  by  the  strongest  ties  of  fidelity  to 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  summarily  exhibited  in  their  respect- 
ive Confessions  of  Faith,  do  hereby  most  distinctly  recognize 
the  obligation  to  maintain  that  truth  so  exhibited ;  and  do 
pledge  themselves  to  each  other,  as  brethren  in  the  Lord,  not 
to  allow  any  doctrine  subversive  thereof,  or  contrary  thereto 
to  be  preached  in  any  of  their  congregations,  and  to  give  each 


424  ARTICLES   OF  AGREEMENT. 

Other  every  aid  and  assistance  in  their  power,  in  this  good  and 
holy  work. 

"  2.  The  two  Churches  agree  to  receive  their  respective 
ministers,  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  private  members,  to 
free  and  full  communion,  as  the  Lord  shall  afford  opportunity; 
allowing  their  ministers  and  candidates  for  the  ministry  to 
preach,  when  properly  invited,  in  their  congregations  settled  or 
vacant,  and  admitting  them,  as  well  as  the  private  members  of 
the  two  churches,  to  sacramental  fellowship.  But  in  order  to 
prevent  imposition  and  irregularity,  they  further  agree  to  in- 
form each  other  of  the  manner  in  which  ministers,  probationers, 
and  private  members  are  accredited  ;  and  to  furnish  and  accept 
credentials  and  certificates,  which  shall  correspond  with  the 
forms  to  be  respectively  communicated. 

"  3.  The  two  Churches  shall  not  interfere  directlv  or  indi- 
rectly  with  their  government  or  order  respectively,  but  will 
strengthen  each  others  hands  by  discountenancing  and  refusing 
all  applications  which  may  be  made  to  them  by  ministers,  pro- 
bationers, or  private  members  from  either,  unless  regularly 
accredited  by  the  other,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  preceding 
article. 

"4.  Vacancies  shall  be  at  liberty  to  call  ministers  from  either 
of  the  churches  according  to  the  order  established  in  that 
church  from  which  he  may  be  called;  he  conforming  himself  to 
the  order  of  the  church  to  which  he  maybe  called.  And  in 
case  of  a  congregation  being  formed  of  people  from  both,  it 
shall  be  at  liberty  to  put  itself  under  the  care  of  either  at  its 
option. 

"  5.  The  General  Synods  of  the  two  Churches  shall  form 
and  maintain  a  regular  and  constant  correspondence  with  each 
other,  by  the  mission  of  two  ministers  and  two  elders  from 
each  to  the  other;  who  shall  be  affectionately  received,  and 
always  honoured,  respectively  as  members  enjoying  a  right  to 
deliberate  and  advise  upon  every  question,  but  not  to  vote 
upon  any. 

"  The  Convention  have  also  had  under  their  consideration  the 
subject  of  the  theological  education  of  the  ministry  of  the  two 
churches.  But  considering  the  magnitude  of  the  questions 
which  it  involves,  they  would  merely  present  it  to  the  view  of 


A  TREATISE   ON   COMMUNION.  425 

the  two  churclies,  as  of  an  interest  sufficient  to  command  tlieir 
most  serious  regard,  with  a  view  to  such  measures  as,  after  the 
most  mature  reflection,  may  be  found  best  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  common  benefit. 

"  All  which  is  most  respectfully  submitted  to  the  General 
Synods  of  the  Reformed  Dutch,  and  the  Associate  Reformed 
Churches,  respectively. 

"Done  at  New  York,  June  14th,  1816. 

J.  H.  LIVINGSTON, 
SOLOMON  FCELIGH, 
JAS.  S.  CANNON, 
HENRY  RUTGERS, 
JAMES  STRIKER, 
J.  M.  MASON, 
ALEX'R  PROUDFIT, 
EBN'R  DICKEY, 
JOSEPH  NOURSE, 
EBENEZER  CLARK." 

At  the  last  named  meeting  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod 
but  little  was  said  on  the  subject  of  communion.  The  battle  had 
at  length  been  won.  The  efforts  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  which 
had  for  several  years  been  made  had  all  failed,  and  the  most  con- 
siderable parts  of  the  church  had  quietly  acquiesced  in  that  con- 
struction of  the  doctrine  which  Dr.  Mason  had  given  it.  His 
able  treatise  entitled  a  Plea  for  Sacramental  Communion  on 
Catholic  Principles,  had  issued  from  the  press  a  short  time  be- 
fore. The  struggle,  having  been  protracted  and  arduous,  the 
result  cannot  be  viewed  otherwise  than  as  a  great  work  com- 
pleted mainly  through  the  exertions  of  one  man,  and  it  must 
have  been  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  him,  that  with  his  failing 
health  he  could  retire  from  the  field  in  hope  that  respecting 
this  question  the  churches  would  be  no  longer  troubled. 

The  ground  maintained  in  his  Plea  is,  that  the  "  members 
who  hold  acknowledged  communion  with  the  Head,  whatever 
be  their  subordinate  variances,  ought  also  to  hold  communion 
with  each  other  in  those  ordinances  which  mark  their  com- 
munion with  the  Head."  It  will  long  be  regarded  as  a  standard 
work  on  this  subject.  We  would  hardly  be  pardoned,  if,  in 
this  connection,  we  should  omit  the  noble  attestation  and  tribute 
of  one  who,  struggling  in  the  same  cause,  unconsciously  mani- 


426  COMMENDATION   OF   EOBERT  HALL. 

fested  his  own  greatness  of  soul,  as  well  as  the  power  of  his 
genius,  in  the  act  of  portraying  the  merits  of  another  : — 

"  It  is  remarkable,"  says  the  Eev.  Eobert  Hall,  "  that  without 
any  previous  knowledge  or  concert,  a  discussion  on  the  subject 
of  communion  corameneed  nearly  at  the  same  time  on  both 
sides  the  Atlantic ;  and  the  celebrated  Dr.  Mason,  of  New 
York,  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the 
western  hemisphere,  was  exerting  the  energies  of  his  powerful 
mind  in  establishing  the  fundamental  position  of  the  treatise 
On  Terms  of  Communion,'^  almost  at  the  very  moment  that 
treatise  appeared,  A  coincidence  so  rare,  a  movement  so  si- 
multaneous, yet  so  unpremeditated,  we  cannot  but  look  upon 
as  a  token  for  good,  as  an  indication  of  the  approach  of  that 
period  so  ardentlj^  desired  by  every  enlightened  Christian, 
when  genuine  believers  will  again  be  of  '  one  heart  and  of  one 
mind.'  Let  us  hope  that  America,  the  land  of  freedom,  where 
our  ancesters  found  an  asylum  from  the  oppression  of  intoler- 
ance, will  exert,  under  the  auspices  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Mason, 
a  powerful  reaction  on  the  parent  State,  and  aid  her  emancipa- 
tion from  the  relics  of  that  pestilential  evil,  still  cherished  and 
retained  in  too  many  British  churches. 

"  Independent  of  other  considerations,  that  invaluable  person 
possesses  one  obvious  advantage  over  the  author  of  the  follow- 
ing performance.  Disengaged  from  the  spurious  refinements 
and  perplexing  subtleties  which  arise  from  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism, by  which  our  opponents  attempt  to  evade  the  application 
of  his  general  principle,  his  movements  are  in  consequence  more 
free  and  unfettered,  and  his  force  operates  in  a  more  simple 
direction  than  is  compatible  with  the  state  of  the  question  as  it 
respects  the  views  of  the  Baptist  denomination.  He  fearlessly 
spreads  his  sails  to  the  winds,  and  triumphs  on  the  element 
which  is  congenial  to  the  amplitude  and  grandeur  of  his  mind. 
Mine  is  a  coasting  voyage,  in  which  the  author  feels  himself 
necessitated  to  creep  along  the  shore,  and  to  comply  with  all 
its  irregularities,  in  the  midst  of  flats  and  shoals,  and  exposed 
to  perpetual  annoyance  from  the  innumerable  small  craft  which 
infest  these  shallow  waters.  The  effect  of  the  different  situa- 
tions in  which  we  are  placed,  is  to  give  a  luminous  simplicity 

*  A  work  published  by  himself. 


THE  AMERICAN  BIBLE   SOCIETY.  427 

to  his  mode  of  conducting  the  argument,  which  forms  a  striking 
contrast,  not  only  to  the  tedious  logomachies  which  I  have  been 
compelled  to  encounter,*  but  to  the  manner  in  which  I  have 
attempted  to  confute  them." — (Preface  of  Hall's  Answer  to 
Kinghorne,  published  1818.) 

Another  important  work  in  which  he  was  privileged  to  take 
a  leading  part  before  he  sailed  for  Europe,  was  the  formation 
of  the  American  Bible  Society.     It  so  happened  that  in  this 
instance  he  was  once  more  thrown  into  near  association  and 
cordial  cooperation  with  that  other  great  man  who  two  years 
before  had  acted  with  him  in  procuring,  from  the  Legislature, 
endowments  for  two  literary  institutions.     With  that  gentleman 
he  was  put  upon  the  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  draught 
of  a  Constitution,  and  of  a  public  Address.     It  is  generally 
understood  that  the  former  task  devolved  mostly  upon  one  of 
these  gentlemen,  and  the  latter  wholly  upon  the  other.    Though 
enfeebled  in  health  and  limited  in  time,  between  the  evening 
of  one  day  and  the  morning  of  the  next,  Dr.  Mason  was  able 
to  present  that  noble  production  which  the  whole  convention 
at  once  approved  and  adopted.     It  is  found  among  his  printed 
works,  and   has   been   extensively  admired   for  its  bold  and 
striking  thoughts,  expressed  in  masculine  power  of  language. 
"  During  the  entire  proceedings  of  this  convention,"  says  a  ven- 
erable actor  in  them,  "  there  was  but  one  short  moment  when 
things  seenned  to  tangle,  and  some  feeling  began  to  rise.     At 
this  moment  Dr.  Mason,  of  New  York,  hastily  rose  and  said, 
'  Mr.  President,  the  Lord  Jesus  never  built  a  church,  but  the 
devil  built  a  chapel  close  to  it;  and  he  is  here  now  in  this  room^ 
with  his  finger  on  the  inkhorn,  not  to  write  your  Constitution, 
but  to  blot  it  out.'     This  sudden  address  convulsed  the  assem- 
bly with  laughter,  which  in  a  moment  dispelled  the  gloom  and 
revealed  a  clear  sun.    Instantly  perceiving  this,  he  said,  '  There! 
there !  he  is  gone  already. ' " — (Christian  Instructor  for  Jan. 
1850.) 

*  '-Though  Dr.  Mason  was  not  led  by  the  course  of  his  argument  to  treat  of  the 
question  of  7nixed  communion,  in  the  usual  import  of  that  phrase,  his  general 
principle  not  only  necessarily  infers  it,  but  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  learn- 
ing from  his  own  lips  his  entire  approbation  of  the  doctrine  advanced  in  Terms 
of  Communion." 


428       COMMISSION  TO  BRITISH  AND  FOREIGN  BIBLE  SOCIETY. 

Soon  after  he  was  gratified  witli  a  double  testimonial  from 
an  Episcopalian  of  the  highest  station  : — 

TO  THE   REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Bedford,  May  22,  1816. 
Dear  Sir  :  Accept  my  thanks  for  the  friendly  letter,  and 
the  Book,^'  which  you  was  so  obliging  as  to  send  me  by  my  son. 
I  have  made  some  progress  in  reading  it.  The  principle  I  ap- 
prove, and  am  glad  it  has  employed  a  pen  so  able  to  do  it 
justice. 

Had  all  uninspired  expositors  been  content  with  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  Gospel,  and  not  been  wise  above  what  is  written, 
the  church  would  probably  have  suffered  less  from  worldly 
wisdom  and  scholastic  subtleties. 

I  rejoice  in  the  institution  of  a  National  Bible  Society,  and 
for  the  reasons  displayed  in  the  excellent  and  eloquent  Address 
which  accompanied  the  publication  of  it. 

With  the  best  wishes  for  the  health  and  prosperity  of  your- 
self and  family, 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  your  friend, 

JOHN  JAY. 

As  Secretary  of  the  recently  formed  institution,  he  also  re- 
ceived a  commission  as  follows  : — 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  American  Bible 
Society  on  the  8d  July,  1816. 

Gen.  Matt.  Clarkson,  Vice-President  in  the  chair. 

"  Whereas  this  Board  is  informed  that  the  Secretary  for  For- 
eign correspondence  intends  shortly  to  sail  for  England;  Ke- 
solved  unanimously  that  the  said  Secretary  is  hereby  desired, 
should  circumstances  permit,  to  wait  in  person  on  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  to  in- 
form said  Committee  of  the  establishment  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  and  its  present  auspicious  prospects ;  and  that 
he  respectfully  assure  said  Committee  that  it  will  ever  afford 
this  Society  very  sincere  pleasure  to  cooperate  in  those  plans 
of  Christian  benevolence  which  have  rendered  the  British  and 

Foreign  Bible  Society  a  blessing  to  the  world. 

*  *  *  *  *  -j{-  * 

'••'  Plea  for  Sacramental  Communion. 


FRIENDLY  SUGGESTIONS.  429 

"  Resolved,  that  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Correspondence  be 
requested  to  procure,  while  in  England,  for  the  use  of  this 
Board,  all  the  Reports  and  other  publications  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society ;  of  the  English  Auxiliary  Bible  Socie- 
ties ;  of  the  Bible  Societies  on  the  continent  of  Europe ;  and 
generally  all  such  works  as  prove  the  utility  of  Bible  Societies, 
and  afford  useful  hints  for  their  management ;  and  to  forward 
them  without  delay  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Society,  on  whom 
he  is  hereby  authorised  to  draw  for  such  sums  as  he  may  ne- 
cessarily expend  in  executing  this  commission." 

WILLIAM  JAY,  Clerk  pro  tem.  to  the  Board  of  Manager?. 

Before  embarking,  he  wrote  letters  of  tender  regard  to  a  num- 
ber of  his  friends.  Among  the  rest  is  one  in  which  he  expresses 
the  deepest  solicitude  for  an  early  student,  whom,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  he  highly  esteemed,  and  who  was  arraigned  by 
his  Presbytery  for  supposed  error  of  doctrine : — 

DR.  M.  TO  REV.  JAMES  McCHQRD. 

New  York,  July  12th,  1816. 

My  Dear  McChord  :  I  have  to  ask  your  forgiveness  for  a 
silence  toward  you,  for  which  I  have  no  just  excuse  ;  and  which 
I  confess  warrants  conclusions,  which,  if  as  true  in  fact  as  in  form, 
would  mortify  and  humble  me  exceedingly.  I  have  not  for- 
gotten, though  I  have  neglected  you.  Nor  have  I  ceased  to 
love,  though  I  am  deeply  distressed  for  your  sake.  How  came 
you,  my  dear  James,  to  fall  into  your  notions  concerning  the 
form  of  our  representation  in  the  first  and  second  Adam  ?  You 
have  certainly  mistaken  me  most  essentially,  if  you  suppose, 
as  you  do,  or  you  would  not  say  so,  that  I  ever  taught  a  repre- 
sentation of  nature  and  not  of  persons  of  individuals.  And  if 
your  doctrines  are  your  own  inferences  from  principles  laid  down, 
by  me,  I  think  they  slxq  fallaciously  inferred,  and  that  I  can  prove 
their  fallacy.  Pardon  me,  my  friend,  for  declaring  my  convic- 
tion, a  conviction  that  wrings  my  heart  with  anguish,  that  your 
main  doctrine  tends  to  subvert  entirely  the  true  and  proper 
.atoning  sacrifice  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  his  substitution  in  the 
room  of  his  people.  I  have  grievously  erred  in  my  opinion  of 
my  friend,  if  his  soul  does  not  revolt  at  the  very  idea.     Do 


430  PARTING  COUNSELS. 

examine  once  more,  and  see  if  in  moral  things,  any  representa- 
tion but  that  of  ^e^-sons  is  possible.  I  cannot  enter  into  details, 
and  I  express  myself  with  a  proviso^  as  I  have  not  been  able  to 
give  your  whole  book  a  sufficient  examination. 

The  state  of  my  health  compels  me  to  take  an  Atlantic  voyage. 
Providence  permitting,  I  sail  to-morrow ;  and  only  snatch  a 
moment  to  assure  you,  appearances  notwithstanding,  of  my  ten- 
der regard  for  you.  The  God  of  all  grace  direct  my  friend  ; 
reclaim  him  as  far  as  he  is  wrong ;  enlighten  us  to  agree  with 
him  where  he  is  right ;  and  all  shall  be  well.  I  cannot  but 
hope  for  a  comfortable  issue. 

I  have  behaved  as  ill  to  Mr.  Bishop  in  the  conduct  of  corres- 
pondence as  to  yourself.  Be  my  advocate  with  him  on  this 
score.  I  am  so  exceedingly  pressed  for  time,  and  have  been  so 
ever  since  I  received  his  letter  of  the  other  day,  that  I  must 
beg  him  to  put  this  also  into  the  budget  of  remissions.  If  it 
please  God  to  restore  me,  I  hope  to  be  a  more  punctual  cor- 
respondent. 

Eemember  and  pray  for  your  affectionate 

J.  M.  MASON. 

To  his  son-in-law  he  writes  :  "  You  must  live  by  faith,  or 
you  will  live  badly.  I  found  its  blessedness  in  early  life  ;  and 
so  will  you.  Keep  close  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  the  Lord  your 
strength ;  and  you  shall  sing,  '  The  Lord  will  provide.'  Ee- 
member your  Master.  Eemember  the  souls  committed  to  your 
charge,     A  word  more — Love  my  Catharine." 

His  solicitude  respecting  the  disaffected  churches  of  the  West, 
may  be  seen  in  an  earnest  letter  to  one  of  his  pupils  still  con- 
nected with  the  Seminary : — 

TO    MR.  GEORGE   JUNKIN. 

New  York,  July  14,  1816. 

My  Dear  George  :  A  report  which  I  hope  is  unfounded, 
has  reached  me  since  I  was  preparing  to  sail  for  Europe.  It  is 
that  the  brethren  of  the  Scioto  Synod,  at  least  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Monongahela,  are  taking  steps  to  separate  from  the 
Associate  Eeformed  Church;  and  that  they  have  appointed 
you  trials  for  licensure,  or  at  least  have  determined  to  take  you 


PARTING   COUNSELS.  431 

upon   trials.     Euinour  is  so  indefinite,  and  fame  such  a  liar, 
that  I  should  have  paid  no  respect  to  these  reports,  had  they 
not  come  through  a  creditable  channel,  and  been  certified  by 
the  existing  state  of  things.     All  I  have  to  say  is  very  brief. 
If  the  Western  brethren  wish  to  separate,  let  them  do  it  in 
peace,  with  good  order  and  in  brotherly  love.     Let  there  be  no 
violent  disruption  of  ties;    nothing  to  countenance    misrule; 
nothing  to  violate  the  principles  of  the  order  which  we  have  all 
promised  to  maintain.    For  myself,  the  measure  appears  replete 
with  calamity  to  our  brethren.     I  am  sure  I  am  not  selfish. 
They  have  received  much  and  given  very  little  to  the  brethren 
from  whom  they  are  to  withdraw.     Were  selfish  considerations 
to  govern  us,  as  to  pecuniary  means  or  exemption  from  some 
vexations,  nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  to  us  or  more  poli- 
tic  for  our  local  prosperity,   than  to  encourage  the  disunion. 
But  I  hate  splitting.     I  will  put  up  with  a  thousand  incon- 
veniencies   rather   than   countenance   the  practical    disregard 
which  is  everywhere  shown    among  us  to  the  Unity  of  the 
church  of  Christ  as  organized  under  Presbyterial  order;  and  by 
none  more  lamentably  than  by  some  who  make  "  Presbyterian 
order,"  the  rallying  point  and  the  watchword  of  independent 
disorder.  I  can  say  for  myself,  and  I  believe  for  all  my  brethren 
this  way,  that  if  there  7nust  be  a  parting,  we  are  ready  to  de- 
part as  becometh  Christians.    There  is  no  necessity — no  urgen- 
cy— no  plea  for  a  rent.     As  for  yourself,  dear  George,  I  do 
hope  that  you  will  not  suffer  yourself  to  be  instrumental  in  so 
sad  a  catastrophe.    You  must  be  sensible  that,  in  ordering  your 
trials  for  licensure,  before  you  have  completed  your  course  and 
received  your  credentials,  the  Presby  tery  cannot  escape  from 
the  charge  of  a  deliberate,  and  highhanded  act  of  schism.  What- 
ever be  their  complaints,  they  are   yet  substantially  suh  judice. 
Take  care  of  bad  precedents — take  care,  according  to  what  I 
have  often  mentioned  to  my  pupils,  of  sacrificing  great  general 
principles  to  local  and  temporary  expedients.     The   example  is 
easily  imitated.     It  is  just  up  to  the  height  of  uneasy  small 
reasoning,  and  petulant  minds.     Do  not  mistake  so  far  as  to 
give  it  your  support.     Oh,  I  cannot  believe  that  the  Mononga- 
hela  brethren  mean  to  set  it.      Solemnly — most  solemnly— I 
may  never  have   another  opportunity — let  me  caution  you. 


432  DEEP  FEELINGS  OF  REGARD. 

Churclies,  without  exception,  which  set  up  separate  commu- 
nions in  our  country,  in  order  to  maintain  habits  which  have 
been  imported  from  abroad,  and  are  in  opposition  to  our  na- 
tional habits,  when  they  cannot  from  the  clear  Word  of  God, 
carry  men's  consciences  along  with  them,  are  hoisting  the  sig- 
nal of  their  own  destruction.  They  must  perish.  They  will 
infallibly  perish.  If  erected  out  of  our  body,  they  will  perish 
very  shortly.  And  the  most  active  in  promoting  the  schism, 
may  live,  although  already  advanced  in  life,  to  see  themselves 
without  congregations.  I  pray  that  you  may  not  be  persuaded 
to  so  fatal  a  step,  I  have  written  very  hastily ;  written  on  the 
Lord's  day,  because  it  is  the  "  King's  business  ;"  and  I  should 
not  have  had  it  in  my  power,  had  not  an  adverse  wind  detained 
me  on  the  shore.  Again  I  say,  pause — consider.  It  is  one  thing 
to  take  a  step,  and  another  to  retread  it.  If  it  please  Grod  to 
spare  my  life,  and  restore  me  to  my  duties  here,  I  most  fer- 
vently pray,  that  I  may  not  on  my  return  find  the  tears  of 
unavailing  repentance  endeavouring  to  allay  the  fever  of  pre- 
cipitate zeal.     Grace  be  with  you. 

Yours  affectionately, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Among  the  gratifying  tokens  of  regard  which  he  received 
from  his  friends  at  this  interesting  juncture,  none  was  more  sin- 
cere and  cordial  than  a  letter  from  his  esteemed  nephew,  writ- 
ten a  little  time  before  he  had  heard  of  the  proposed  voyage: — 

TO  THE  REV.  DR.  J.  M.   MASON. 

Baltimore,  June  28,  1816. 

My  Dear  Uncle  :  I  employ  Mr.  Heyer,  who  leaves  this  city 
for  New  York  to-day,  as  the  bearer  of  our  congratulations,  to 
yourself  and  family,  on  your  late  matrimonial  speculation^'^  if  so 
I  may  term  it — you  having  denominated  mine  an  adventure. 
Particularly  would  we  congratulate  Catherine  and  our  new 
cousin.  Our  best  wishes  and  prayers  attend  their  union.  May 
it  not  be  severed  until  they  are  prepared  to  receive  an  ample 
recompense  for  such  a  dispensation  by  an  introduction  into 
everlasting  glory ! 

*  The  marriage  of  his  daugliter,  which  had  taken  place  on  the  18th  of  this 
month. 


DESPONDING  FEELINGS.  433 

My  Eliza  joins  with  me  in  expressing  much  concern  for  your 
own  health.  Every  report  respecting  you  only  brings  evil 
tidings,  and  increases  our  fear  that  your  health  is  still  declining. 
There  are  many  things  which  render  this  a  very  affecting  cir- 
cumstance to  me.  Not  simply  the  memory  of  my  mother,  of 
whom  I  cannot  yet  think  without  the  strongest  emotion,  nor 
yet  the  living  proof  of  your  relation  to  me  in  your  continued 
kindness,  though,  vnj  dear  uncle,  few  love  you  more ;  but  your 
connexion  with  the  church  and  the  evident  benefits  resulting 
from  your  labours,  create  many  apprehensions.  I  confess  I  feel 
acutely  on  this  subject.  "What  I  hourly  learn,  I  think  only  cal- 
culated to  disclose  to  me  the  declining  interests  of  religion  in 
our  land.  I  know  indeed  that  God  may  smite  only  to  heal; 
that  he  who  conducted  the  Gospel  with  so  much  rapidity,  by 
means  of  His  dispersed  ministers,  from  Jerusalem  to  the  villa- 
ges of  the  Samaritans,  and  thence  to  the  dark  corners  of  Ethi- 
opia, can  bring  forth  His  church  "  clear  as  the  sun,  fair  as  the 
moon,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners."  I  know  he  will 
ultimately  do  it ;  but  the  course  of  His  providence  at  present 
does  not  indicate  that  the  work  of  judgment  is  done,  or  that  the 
darkness  has  yet  passed  by.  The  warrior  has  retired  only  to 
furbish  his  weapons,  that  he  may  come  forth  to  the  battle  with 
redoubled  terror.  Perhaps  these  are  but  the  bodings  of  some 
gloomy  hour ;  certain  it  is  they  can  depress  me  in  my  most 
cheerful  moments.  Luther  had  a  remedy  for  all  such  evils ; 
and  our  best  way  is,  with  him  to  take  refuge  in  the  46th  Psalm. 

I  understand  that  preaching  exhausts  and  depresses  you 
much.  I  thought  so  when  I  was  with  you.  Will  you  permit 
your  pupil  and  nephew  to  remind  you  of  the  instructions  you 
gave  him  on  the  subject  of  preaching  under  similar  circum- 
stances ;  how  much  you  undervalued  the  arguments  by  which  I 
endeavoured  to  justify  my  course,  considering  it  so  improper, 
because  injurious,  as  to  be  wholly  indefensible  ?  If  these  things 
were  correct  in  their  application  to  one  who  might  have  been 
called  off  without  being  missed — whose  place  could  instantly 
have  been  more  than  filled  by  another — what  shall  I  say  to  one, 
who  by  the  same  course  is,  so  far  as  my  information  goes,  has- 
tening an  event,  which,  come  when  it  may,  will  shroud  the 
whole  church  in  mourning?  Forgive  the  freedom  of  my  a£fec- 
28 


4M:  TAKING   LEAVE   OF   HIS   FAMILY. 

tion,  which  has  hitherto  shrunk  back  diffident,  but  agitated,  and 
now  cannot  refrain.  Am  I  permitted  to  address  my  Preceptor 
so?  "Consider  what  I  say;  and  the  Lord  give  thee  under- 
standing in  all  things." 

Your  affectionate  nephew, 

JOHN   M.  DUNCAN. 

His  farewell  interview  with  his  family,  on  embarking,  pre- 
sented a  scene  which  was  at  once  tender  and  edifying — showing 
a  beautiful  combination  of  domestic  affection  and  Christian  faith. 
He  first  kneeled  and  offered  up  a  most  humble  and  pathetic 
prayer.  He  then  sang,  with  unusual  force,  the  whole  of  New- 
ton's excellent  hymn,  "  The  Lord  will  provide."  After  this, 
amidst  irrepressible  emotions,  he  embraced  each  one  separately, 
with  a  word  of  comfort  and  counsel  to  each.  Finally,  uttering 
a  few  short,  but  expressive  and  fervent  ejaculations  to  heaven, 
in  behalf  of  them  all,  he  left  the  house — several  of  his  children 
and  friends  accompanying  him  to  the  Battery,  whence  he  was 
conveyed  in  a  boat  to  the  ship  lying  at  a  distance  in  the  bay. 


CHAPTEE  XXXIV.  1 

1816. 

IN    ENGLAND,    SCOTLAND,   AND    PARIS. 

His  Voyage — Arrival  in  England— Gosport — Letters  to  Mrs.  M. — Mrs.  Bogue — 
London — Mr.  Pritt— Lord  Erskine — Voyage  to  Scotland— His  Uncle — Mr. 
Pillan's  School — Mrs.  Marshall — Seals  of  his  Ministry. 

An  account  of  his  voyage  is  given,  on  its  termination,  in  a 
letter  soon  forwarded 

TO   MRS.  MASON. 

Southampton,  August  9,  1816. 
I  EMBRACE  the  earliest  opportunity  of  acquainting  you,  my 
dearest  Nancy,  with  the  comfortable  termination  of  our  voyage, 
and  our  safe  landing  on  the  British  shore,  after  a  generally  de- 
lightful passage  of  twenty -three  days.  From  the  time  of  leav- 
ing Sandy  Hook,  we  had  most  pleasant  weather ;  cold  for  the 
season,  but  not  disagreeable;  fair  winds,  with  the  exception  of 
a  calm  on  the  first  Sabbath ;  a  slight  head  wind  part  of  one 
nigrht,  and  a  second  short  calm  of  about  twelve  hours,  till  we 
came  within  or  near  what  seamen  call  the  "chops  of  the  chan- 
nel." A  strong  north-easter  then  encountered  us,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded after  the  second  calm  with  very  stiff  breezes,  approach- 
ing to  a  gale,  and  thick  misty  atmosphere,  which  bounded  our 
horizon  within  very  short  limits  indeed.  We  had  no  observa- 
tion of  our  latitude  for  two  days.  Our  reckoning  was  out ; 
there  are  various  currents  in  the  channel ;  and  not  a  soul  on 
board  knew,  but  every  one  conjectured  whereabouts  we  were. 
The  Captain  became  much  disturbed ;  and,  in  order  to  clear 
effectually  the  rocks  of  Scilly,  steered  a  south,  or  south-south- 
east course,  the  wind  blowing  hard  from  south-south  and  south- 


486  LANDS  AT  SOUTHAMPTON. 

west.  About  eleven  o'clock,  a.m.,  on  the  7th,  a  sudden  cry  of 
"  land !"  and  great  bustle  on  deck,  brought  us  all  instantly 
above.  The  atmosphere  had,  that  moment^  lighted  up  and  dis- 
covered the  French  coast  within  five  or  six  miles,  the  ship  run- 
ning directly  toward  the  shore  !  How  kind,  how  condescending 
is  the  care  of  our  Heavenly  Father !  It  extorted  from  one  of 
the  passengers,  whose  religion  is  his  lightest  incumbrance,  the 
involuntary  homage  of  a  conscience  enlightened  for  a  moment, 
like  the  atmosphere,  "This  is  a  Providential  interposition!" 
That  acknowledgment  will  one  day  be  remembered.  We 
spoke,  shortly  after,  a  French  vessel,  just  out  of  Morlaix 
(twenty-seven  miles  off),  for  Havre  de  Grace,  the  Captain  of 
which  spoke  English,  and  exerted  himself  with  an  interest  and 
an  earnestness  which  could  not  be  surpassed,  by  words,  by  signs, 
by  repetitions  of  both,  to  make  us  thoroughly  understand  where 
we  were;  and  of  course  to  ascertain  how  we  should  steer.  You 
know  I  am  not  an  overweening  admirer  of  Frenchmen;  but 
this,  so  valuable  a  kindness  to  us,  struck  me  forcibl}^,  and 
affected  me.  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  bring  back  proofs  to 
justify  a  more  favourable  opinion  than  I  have  been  accustomed 
to  entertain  of  that  singular  race.  Yesterday  morning,  at  nine 
o'clock,  we  made,  on  a  different  tack,  the  British  coast.  It 
proved  to  be  the  Isle  of  Wight.  At  eleven  o'clock  we  were 
boarded  by  a  Pilot,  with  whom  the  cabin  passengers  immedi- 
ately embarked  for  this  city,  then  fifty  miles  off.  We  had  a 
beautiful  afternoon,  the  first  that  had  been  seen  in  the  channel 
for  a  fortnight.  With  a  fine  breeze,  we  past  swiftly  along  the 
most  elegantly  variegated,  and  wildly  picturesque  scenery  of 
rural  cultivation,  and  retreat,  and  enjoyment,  which  ever  greeted 
my  vision.  Before  sunset  we  disembarked  on  Johnny  Bull's 
premises ;  found  an  interesting  old  city ;  extremely  civil  cus- 
tomhouse officers  :  a  shoal  of  subordinate  hangers  on  ;  teazing 
as  mosquitoes,  adhesive  as  leeches ;  and  very  clean,  snug 
quarters,  with  quiet,  abundance,  courtesy,  and  comfort,  at  the 
"Coach  and  Horses  Inn." 

My  health  is  perceptibly  better;  my  respiration  freer,  my 
strength  increased.  My  chest,  however,  is  still  blockaded,  and  my 
feverishness  continues  at  night.  Ebenezer  has  greatly  profited 
by  the  voyage.     He  is  quite  stout  and  well,  and  his  habits  of 


GOSPORT — MRS.    BOGUE,  437 

body  improved.  In  two  or  three  days  we  expect  to  be  in 
London.  This  goes,  in  order  to  be  quick^  a  long  way  round 
about,  by  Liverpool.  Our  tenderest  love  to  the  dear  ones  whom 
we  have  left.  I  remember  the  kindness  of  our  friends  and  hope 
to  be  able  to  show  that  it  was  not  ill  bestowed.  Tell  them  so, 
when  they  ask  about  me.  Adieu,  my  Love.  Very  shortly 
expect  to  hear  again  from  your  affectionate, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  use  of  the  plural  number  towards  the  close  of  this  letter 
will  be  readily  understood,  by  recollecting  that  he  was  accom- 
panied by  his  son  Ebenezer,  then  about  fourteen  years  old,  and 
his  interesting  young  friend,  Matthias  Bruen. 

The  progress  of  his  journey  is  noted  in  subsequent  letters: — 

TO    MRS.    MASON. 

London,  August  13,  1816. 

My  Dearest  :  I  wrote  you  on  the  9th,  from  Southampton 
where  I  landed,  leaving  the  ship  off  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Eefer- 
ring  you  to  this  letter  for  particulars  of  our  voyage,  I  embrace 
an  opportunity  of  a  vessel  sailing  this  afternoon  for  Philadelphia 
to  inform  you  generally  of  our  motions  since.  We  left  South- 
ampton in  a  post-chaise  for  Gosport,  opposite  Portsmouth,  on 
Saturday  the  10th,  and  arrived  there  in  the  afternoon — visiting 
in  our  way  the  stupendous  ruin,  Netley  Abbey.  I  was  much 
disappointed  in  missing  Dr.  Bogue,  who  had  been  several 
weeks  absent  on  an  evangelical  embassy  to  Holland  and  the 
Netherlands,  with  a  view  of  stirring  them  up  to  a  vigorous 
cooperation  in  those  gracious  efforts  which  distinguish  the 
present  age  of  the  Christian  world.  He  was  agreeably  sur- 
prised, Mrs.  Bogue  tells  us,  at  finding  the  object  of  his  visit  in 
a  great  degree  anticipated,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Dutch  much 
more  expanded,  zealous  and  active  in  the  holiest  of  causes,  than 
he  had  hoped.  With  Mrs.  Bogue,  a  venerable  lady  somewhat 
resembling  Mrs.  Graham  in  heart  and  spirit,  we  spent  almost 
the  whole  of  the  Lord's  day  and  evening,  when  not  attending 
upon  public  worship.  You  cannot  tell,  unless  you  have  experi- 
enced it,  how  sweet  is  a  Christian  Sabbath  after  several  weeks 
of  exclusion  from  its  due  observance.     I  understand  better  than 


438  LONDON — ME.   PRITT. 

ever,  at  least  I  think  I  do,  tlie  emotions  whicli  breathed  out 
through  the  lips  of  the  Psalmist,  that  fervent  apostrophe,  "Lord? 
I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  thy  house  and  the  place  where 
thine  honour  dwelleth." 

On  Monday,  at  eight  o'clock,  A.M.,  we  took  coach  for  this  me- 
tropolis, and  arrived  at  seven  last  evening — seventy-eight  miles. 
We  have  not  yet  had  time  to  adjust  our  little  matters,  nor  even 
to'procure  lodgings.  The  Canton  is  still  below  the  city  a  con- 
siderable distance,  being  detained  by  contrary  wind.  Our 
health  is  as  usual ;  Ebenezer  hearty ;  myself  mending,  but 
slowly.  Exertion  fatigues  me  soon,  though  not  so  soon  as 
when  I  left  you.  My  feverishness  is  a  regular  companion  at 
night,  yet  slighter  than  it  was.  I  have  not  seen  or  heard  of 
Dr.  Tillary  as  yet ;  to  look  for  a  man  here,  is  like  looking  for 
a  stra}'-  pigeon  on  the  Alleghany  mountains.  I  hope. to  get  the 
requisite  intelligence  this  afternoon  ;  but  cannot  keep  my  letter 
open,  as  the  ship's  bag  will  be  removed  before  I  could  add  a 
paragraph  respecting  our  friend.  I  knew  not  of  the  convey- 
ance till  two  or  three  minutes  before  I  began  to  write.  I  write 
in  the  house  of  my  excellent  friend,  James  Pritt,  Esq.,  a  worthy 
Baptist,  a  clear-headed  man,  and  a  warm-hearted  Christian,  who 
is  for  holding  fellowship  with  all  who  hold  fellowship  with 
Christ. 


TO    MRS.    MASON. 

London,  August  24,  1816. 

My  Dearest  Nancy:  Since  my  last,  an  opportunity  by  a 
gentleman,  Mr.  VV.  Shaw,  returning  directly  to  New  York, 
occurs  too  favourably  to  be  omitted.  The  circumstances  of  the 
weather  are  unfriendly  to  my  improvement.  Till  these  last 
forty-eight  hours,  there  has  not  been  a  dry  day  since  my  arrival  ; 
and  I  am  told  it  has  been  the  same  for  nearly  four  months. 
The  hay  is  nearly  ruined  throughout  the  country.  It  is  now 
lying  in  immense  quantities  wet  in  the  fields.  There  has  not 
been  sunshine  enough  to  ripen  the  grain  ;  and  great  apprehen- 
sions are  entertained  for  the  fate  of  the  crops.  Fruit  has  been 
and  is  extremely  abundant ;  but  of  inferior  flavour,  and  acid, 
in  consequence  of  the  wet. 

I  found  Dr.  Tillary,  and  dined  with  him  the  day  after  my 


VOYAGE  TO   SCOTLAND.  439 

last  letter.  I  never  saw  him  in  better  bealtli  or  spirits.  He 
set  off  for  Scotland  on  Monday.  We  mean  to  do  the  same  next 
week,  if  the  Lord  please,  on  Thursday.  We  shall  go  in  the 
Leith  Packet,  which  will  save  us  some  twelve  or  fourteen 
guineas — no  small  matter  in  my  finances,  as  travelling  is  very 
expensive. 

I  have  just  had  a  friendly  call  from  Lord  Erskine.  He  is 
very  communicative,  and  kind  to  Americans.  He  furnishes 
me  with  letters  of  some  importance  to  Scotland. 

An  active  bookseller  has  offered  to  print  my  'Plea,'  on  the 
same  terms  that  I  had  in  New  York ;  viz.,  to  take  the  expense 
and  risk,  and  divide  the  profits  with  me.  This,  whatever  it 
may  turn  out,  is  more  liberal  than  I  had  a  right  to  expect ;  as 
any  one  might  publish  it  without  a  farthing's  compensation  to  me. 

My  friends  are,  many  of  them,  out  of  town ;  but  I  have  met 
with  the  greatest  kindness.  On  Tuesday,  Ebenezer  and  I  spend 
the  day  with  Mr.  H.  F,  Burder,  who  married  an  old  favourite 
of  mine.  Miss  Hardcastle. 

My  next  will  probably  be  from  the  city  of  smoke — Auld 
Eeeky. 


TO  MRS.   MASON. 

Edinburgh,  September  9,  1816. 

I  HOPE  my  dearest  Nancy  has  received  or  will  have  received 
in  due  season  my  letters  from  England  of  the  9th  13th  and 
24th  ult.  We  were  detained  in  London  a  week  longer  than  we 
had  intended,  by  circumstances  somewhat  provoking,  but  hardly 
worth  relating. 

Compelled  by  a  necessity  of  our  neighbour's  making,  we 
sailed  from  London  at  9  a.m.  on  the  1st  inst,,  came  to  anchor 
near  the  Nore,  below  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  about  6  p.m., 
lay  there  some  twelve  hours,  and  reached  Leith  harbour  about 
10  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  4th,  effecting  a  passage  of  nearly 
five  hundred  miles  in  eighty-four  hours.  We  could  not  see  the 
propriety  of  lying  by  so  long ;  but  our  Captain,  who  is  an  ex- 
pert seaman,  though  a  very  bad  Christian,  snuffed  a  gale  of 
wind  out  at  sea,  and  would  not  stir.  He  was  right;  for  the 
next  papers  contained  unpleasant  accounts  of  vessels  driven 
on  shore,  wrecks,  and  other  disasters,  not  many  leagues  from 


410  HIS   UNCLE   EBENEZER. 

US — all  which  calamities  we  mercifully  escaped.  A  mercy  of 
little  less  value  was  the  rapidity  of  our  passage.  We  got  out 
of  our  den  on  Thursday  morning ;  and  from  a  more  uncom- 
fortable dungeon  I  hope  never  to  flee.  If  the  praisers  of  these 
same  "  Smacks"  ever  persuade  me  to  put  my  foot  on  board  one 
of  them  again,  unless  driven  by  insurmountable  necessity,  I 
shall  grant  them  something  like  the  evil  one's  prerogative,  of 
first  tempting,  and  then  torturing. 

My  venerable  uncle,  uniform  in  his  excellence,  received  us 
in  the  most  affectionate  and  touching  manner.  I  met  himrin 
the  passage  of  his  house,  where  it  was  somewhat  dark,  and  my 
face  was  from  the  light  of  the  door.  Though  he  was  expect- 
ing us,  he  hesitated  a  moment  till  I  spoke.  He  then  clasped 
me  to  his  bosom,  but  for  a  moment  could  not  articulate.  He 
immediately  recovered,  and  the  gush  of  his  heart  found  vent  as 
he  held  Ebenezer  by  one  hand  and  me  by  the  other.  His  tran- 
quillity soon  resumed  its  ascendancy  ;  but  still  there  were  fluc- 
tuations and  tumults  of  various  feelings.  He  was  glad  at 
meeting  us,  but  his  wife  was  not  there !  his  Margaret  was  not 
there !  Their  place  was  empty  !  Their  voice  was  in  the  choir 
above,  far  out  of  the  reach  of  mortal  sense !  In  the  disasters 
of  the  times,  he  has  lost  his  fortune,  but  neither  his  friends,  nor 
his  serenity.  He  has  lived  among  the  "  brothers  who  are  born 
for  adversity."  He  ranks  as  high  as  ever  in  society,  and  has  a 
comfortable  provision  in  a  reputable  office  with  light  personal 
labour.  His  partner  is  a  son  of  Sir  Harry  Moncrieff,  the  most 
manly  and  dignified  clergyman  in  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

In  about  four  weeks  I  go  back  to  London,  and  thence  to 
Paris. 


TO   MRS.  MASON. 

RoTHSAY,  Island  op  Bute,  Sept.  26,  1816. 
I  NEED  not  tell  ray  beloved  with  what  mingled  emotions  I 
opened  her  welcome  letter  of  the  10th  August.  It  was  handed  to 
me  the  day  before  yesterday  at  Glasgow,  and  relieved  me  from 
the  pains  of  disappointed  expectation.  Mr.  Bruen  had  received 
a  fortnight  before,  by  the  same  conveyance,  despatches  from 
home;  and  I  could  not  divine  how  there  should  be  none  for 
me,  unless  they  had  gone  round  about  from  Liverpool  to  Lon- 


MRS.   MATHEWS — MR.   BRUEN — PILLAN's   SCHOOL.         441 

don,  and  lay  there  unforwarded,  which  proved  to  be  the  case. 
Let  me  bless  the  Father  of  our  mercies  for  His  kindness  to  you, 
and  our  famil}^,  since  we  parted.  Could  it  be  otherwise?  Has 
He  not  always  loaded  us  with  His  blessings  manifold?  And  was 
He  now  to  throw  away  the  precious  property  which  my  faith 
— I  dare  say  it  unhesitatingly — my  faith  entrusted  to  His  care? 
It  is  infinitely  consoling  to  have  such  a  Father  on  whom  to  cast 
our  burden.  And  He  will  yet  do  for  us  great  and  holy  things, 
although  He  has  not  promised  not  to  show  us  "  great  and  sore 
troubles."  But  should  such  be  His  good  will,  He  will  likewise 
show  us  His  holy  covenant,  and  teach  us  to  glory  even  in  tribu- 
lations. 

The  death  of  our  dear  Charlotte  Matthews  is  a  heavy  stroke. 
I  do  not  wonder  that  it  almost  crushed  E.  I  was  not  prepared 
for  it,  and  feel  it  sorely.  She  has  been,  almost  from  her  infancy, 
so  much  like  one  of  my  own  daughters,  that  her  departure  is  to 
me  a  real  bereavement.  To  her  own,  and  to  her  father's  family, 
the  occasion  is  fraught  with  whatever  can  depress  the  man  and 
try  the  Christian.  Yet  there  was  the  light  of  life  in  her  death. 
Praised  be  our  King,  for  adding  another  ray  of  his  glory  to  his 
crown  as  the  Eedeemer ! 

Of  my  excursions,  it  is  impossible  to  say  more  than  that  I 
have  everywhere  been  received  with  demonstrations  of  the 
most  kind  regard.  Bruen  has  shared  them  all.  And  he  de- 
serves it.  His  correctness,  manliness,  and  modesty,  have  en- 
deared him  to  myself,  and  recommended  him  to  others.  Should 
he  ever  return  to  Britain,  he  will  need  no  letters  of  introduc- 
tion. 

I  have  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Pillans,  rector  of  the  High 
School  at  Edinburgh.  The  reputation  of  this  Seminary  out- 
strips almost,  if  not  altogether,  every  other  in  the  Island.  From 
the  outline  which  Mr.  Pillans,  and  from  the  productions  of  boys 
of  thirteen  and  fourteen,  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  precisel}'  the 
sort  of  school  I  have  been  longing  for;  and  do  not  perceive  it 
without  some  self-gratulation  that  its  main  features  are  the  same 
with  those  by  which  I  had  intended  to  distinguish  a  school  for 
Columbia  College. 

I  write  this  in  the  house  of  Mrs.  Marshall,  the  widow  of  Dr. 
Marshall,  brother  of  Mrs.  Graham.     I  cannot  tell  how  gratified 


442  MRS.   MARSHALL — MR.   WOOLSEY. 

this  truly  good  woman  was  with  my  visiting  her,  and  introduc- 
ing myself  upon  the  credit  of  my  acquaintance  with  her  glori- 
fied relative.  A  thousand  affectionate  inquiries  she  made  about 
Mr.  Bethune  and  family  ;  and  kind  attentions  she  showed  to 
myself  of  the  most  vigilant  and  unaffected  sort. 

I  set  out  for  Greenock  in  an  hour ;  return  to  Glasgow  on 
Saturday  ;  to  Edinburgh  next  week  ;  and  mount  my  horse  for 
traversing  England  the  week  after. 

My  best  affections  to  Grandma  and  the  children.  Tell  Phe 
to  congratulate,  on  my  behalf,  her  friend  Cornelia  on  becoming 
Strong  ;  and  Monsieur  Pascal  on  his  Kaning  at  last.* 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  TO  MISS  E.  P.  MASON  FROM  HER  FATHER, 
DATED  LIVERPOOL,  OCTOBER    24,  1816. 

"I  lodge  at  Mr.  George  M.  Woolsey's,  whose  wife  is  sister  to 
Mrs.  Levi  Coit  and  Mrs.  George  Brinckerhoff.  This  lady,  like 
her  sisters,  is  a  most  charming  woman.  Frank,  cheerful,  unos- 
tentatious, full  of  the  kind  affections,  and  delighted  with  diffus- 
ing comfort  around  her.  Mr.  W.  lives  in  elegance ;  and  has 
heaped  hospitalities  upon  me.  Every  accommodation  of  his 
establishment  is  at  my  command.  Some,  my  dear  daughter, 
is  a  word  full  of  the  heart,  and  has  nothing  to  come  into  com- 
petition with  its  tender  associations.  But  one  of  our  highest 
temporal  mercies  when  we  are  abroad,  undoubtedly  is  that 
friendly  reception  among  strangers  which  renders  our  residence 
among  them  everything  that  it  can  be,  and  not  be  home  itself," 


In  the  course  of  his  journey  through  England  he  had  an  op- 
portunity of  seeing  at  Chester,  a  gentleman  and  lady  who  re- 
garded themselves  as  seals  of  his  ministry,  having  experienced 
the  benefit  of  his  public  ministrations  during  their  sojourn  in 
New  York,  several  years  before.  The  grateful  feelings  with 
which  they  remembered  him,  they  afterwards  expressed  in  a 
letter  from  which  we  take  a  short  extract : — 

'•  Your  visit,  and  the  affectionate  kindness  with  which  you 
.treated  us,  were  gratifications  which  we  had  hardly  ventured 

*  The  Rev.  Paschal  N.  Strong  married  to  Miss  Cornelia  Kane. 


SEALS   OF   HIS  MINISTRY.  443 

to  anticipate ;  but  which  we  shall  cherish  with  thankful,  and 
we  trust,  with  profitable  remembrance.  Our  minds  were  carried 
back  to  the  obligations  which  we  owe  you  as  the  instrument 
in  God's  gracious  hand  of  all  we  have  known  and  experienced 
of  the  power  and  the  preciousness  of  the  Gospel  of  peace.  And 
while  we  could  not  suppress  the  feelings  of  regret  at  losing  so 
quickly  what  we  prized  so  highly,  we  were  carried  forward  to 
that  day  when  we  shall  meet,  we  trust,  around  our  Father's 
throne,  and  dwell  forever  together  near  his  face,  where  sin  and 
sorrow  and  separation  will  not  be  known.  Though  we  shall  enjoy 
but  a  small  share  of  your  society  next  spring,  yet  we  feel  no 
disposition  to  grudge  others  the  privilege  which  we  are 
denied.  For  their  sakes  whom  you  most  love,  and  their's 
to  whom  you  minister,  and  above  all  for  the  cause  and  kingdom 
of  our  Lord  Christ,  we  pray  that  your  health  may  be  speedily 
restored,  and  your  life  and  labours  long  continued  to  the  church. 
We  have  no  wish  to  tax  your  patience,  but  we  shall  not  be 
happy  without  hearing  how  you  succeed  in  the  great  object  of 
your  projected  journey.  We  entreat  that  you  will  remember 
our  anxiety  occasionally,  and  write  us  a  few  lines  whenever 
you  have  leisure.  Mrs.  E.  unites  with  me  in  kindest  regards  to 
you.  Nor  do  we  forget  your  fellow  traveller,  though  our  feel- 
ings are  at  some  moments  not  unmingled  with  something  very 
like  envy." 


CHAPTEE     XXXV. 
1816—1817. 

ION    THE    CONTINENT. 

Letters  to  Mrs.  Mason — Paris — Mr.  C.  King— Grateful  Reflections — Eeligioua 
state  of  France — His  Health — Rapid  Sketch  of  his  Journey — Letter  to  his 
Daughter,  Mrs.  V.  V. — Tour  through  Holland — Preached  at  Brussels — Popery 
— Interesting  Events  at  Geneva — Letter  from  Rev.  M.  Bruen — Letter  from 
Dr.  Malan. 

TO   MRS.    MASON. 

Paris,  Decemher  6,  1816. 
Thus  far  have  I  proceeded  in  my  pilgrimage  toward  the 
South  of  France,  and  the  classic  land.  The  cold  which  I  men- 
tioned in  my  letter  from  Calais,  as  having  arrested  me  in  Lon- 
don, and  continued  to  trouble  me,  is  almost  entirely  gone;  and 
I  am  more  recruited  than  at  any  time  since  I  left  New  York. 
The  atmosphere  of  this  metropolis,  though  preferable  in  winter 
to  that  of  London,  is  yet  unpleasant  to  American  feeling.  It 
almost  always  lowers.  A  fine  blue  sky  is  a  great  rarity  ;  and 
yet  the  weather  has  not  that  chilling  quality  which  belongs  to 
the  north-easters  of  New  York,  and  still  more  to  the  drizzle  of 
Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  and  London.  The  streets  here  have  con- 
stantly on  their  surface  a  thin  mud,  very  similar  to  that  of  our 
middle  pavements  after  a  November  shower.  You  stick  and 
slip  at  the  same  moment.  Nothing  can  be  more  unpleasant. 
The  stream  of  water  running  down  the  gutters,  sometimes  in 
the  middle,  sometimes  at  the  sides,  of  a  great  many  streets, 
precludes  the  possibility  of  their  being  dry  in  cold  weather, 
when  they  are  not  coated  with  ice.  The  houses  are  very  cold ; 
stone  staircases,  brick  floors — the  bricks  being  often  hexagonal, 
so  as  to  make  the  floor  resemble,  in  its  six-sided  figures,  the 
compartments  of  a  honey-comb.  The  fire-places  deep,  awk- 
ward, calculated  Mell  for  warm  smoking  whatever  is  in  the 


PARIS — MR.   C.   KING.  445 

chimney  ;  but  for  nothing  so  little  as  for  warming  the  room. 
Wood  very  scarce,  very  dear,  and  very  light,  though  dry ;  not 
equal  to  our  good  oak.  A  carpet  is  a  luxury.  Many  of  the 
floors  are  of  oak  cut  into  narrow  strips,  and  curiously  laid 
down,  so  as  to  form  a  variety  of  figures,  almost  as  great  as 
those  in  a  carpet.  Furniture  splendid;  outside  of  houses  splen- 
did; public  edifices  and  gardens  splendid.  Splendour  is  the 
reigning  passion.  Everything  for  show  ;  little  or  nothing  for 
that  old-fashioned  affair  called  comfort.  The  French  have  no 
term  for  it  in  their  language — a  pretty  good  proof  that  they  are 
without  the  thing,  notwithstanding  our  Ambassador's  opinion, 
that  they  know  as  much  of  it  and  enjoy  as  much  as  other 
people,  only  talk  less  about  it.  An  absolute  incredibility ! 
That  a  Frenchman  should  talk  about  everything  else  but  his 
comfort!     He  never  learned  to  smuggle  an  article  of  that  sort. 

But  I  must  have  done  with  this  chattering,  or  you  will  have 
a  volume.  Description  is  out  of  the  question.  I  came  to  get 
health,  by  change  of  air,  of  scenery,  of  society,  and  by  exercise. 
In  a  few  days  we  set  our  faces  southward.  "We  mean  to  make 
a  rapid  tour  down  the  Khone ;  over  into  Italy  ;  away  to  Geneva ; 
down  the  Ehine  to  the  land  of  Mynheer  ;  through  the  Nether- 
lands ;  and  over  again  to  England  by  the  end  of  April.  Some 
of  our  expectations  may  be  disappointed. 

Mrs.  Gallatin  enquired  very  kindly  after  you  this  morning. 
I  am  writing  at  the  house  of  Mr.  C.  King,  whose  attentions 
have  been  very  marked,  and  demand  my  gratitude.  Mrs.  K. 
presented  him  about  two  months  ago  with  a  young  William 
Gracie,  that  would  merit  a  place  among  sister  Brown's  "  little 
elephants."  Mr.  and  Mrs.  K.  with  their  four  children  are  all 
well.     Mrs.  K.  very  anxious  to  get  home  again. 


TO  MRS.  MASON. 

Paris,  January  12,  1817. 

My  Dear  Nancy:  My  heart  has  been  made  to  rejoice  with 
thanksgiving,  by  the  welcome  letters  of  John  and  Euphemia. 
Blessed  be  the  Father  of  mercies  for  all  his  goodness  to  me  and 
mine !  for  preserving  the  health  of  some,  restoring  that  of 
others,  and  keeping  all.     When  I  committed  my  precious  ones 


446  PIOUS   REFLECTIONS. 

to  Israel's  Shepherd,  I  think  I  was  enabled  to  do  it  in  faith, 
not  wavering ;  nor  do  I  now  doubt.  My  soul  magnifies  the 
Lord!  My  spirit  rejoices  in  God  my  Saviour!  He  that  is 
mighty  has  done,  and  is  doing,  and  will  do,  great  things  for  us ; 
and  holy  is  his  name;  and  his  mercy  is  on  them  that  fear  him, 
from  generation  to  generation!  I  blush,  and  am  ashamed, 
when  I  consider  how  I  have  requited  his  manifold  loving  kind- 
nesses. These,  and  not  his  terrors — not  his  scourges — not  his 
desolating  judgments — has  he  always  employed,  and  still  em- 
ploys, for  restoring  my  wandering  soul,  and  leading  me  in 
paths  of  righteousness  for  his  name's  sake.  Oh  !  he  knows  my 
frame,  and  he  remembers  that  I  am  but  dust.  And  therefore 
as  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  does  he  pity  me;  and  there- 
fore all  his  dispensations  toward  me,  though  sometimes  trying 
and  mysterious,  are  loving  kindnesses.  These  melt  me  down; 
break  my  stubbornness;  teach  my  wayward  spirit;  prostrate 
me  before  him.  My  heart's  desire  and  prayer  is,  that  if  it  shall 
please  him  to  establish  my  health,  as  I  have  encouraging  pros- 
pects, and  to  bring  me  back  again  to  my  country  and  to  his 
sanctuary,  I  may  be  devoted,  with  all  my  faculties  and  affec- 
tions, to  his  most  honourable  service,  in  promoting,  as  the 
highest  of  all  interests,  and  my  own  chiefestjoy,  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  in- 
finitely vain  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  this  world  appear  to  me 
when  I  look  at  them  all  gay  and  glittering  as  they  are,  in  this 
"Vanity  Fair." 


TO    MRS.   MASON. 

Paris,  March  27,  1817. 

My  Dearest  :  The  evening  before  last,  I  returned  from  my 

tour  to  the  South  of  France.     My  health  has  been  regularly 

improving  ;  of  late  more  rapidly  than  at  first — with  occasional 

checks  however  to  its  progress.     My  cough  is  gone ;  at  least  so 

little  of  it  is  left  as  not  to  be  worth  namins;.     The  difficult 

respiration  which  troubled  me  so  severely,  has  almost  entirely 

ceased.     Indeed  I  never  feel  it,  unle.°s  in  mounting  a  long,  steep 

ascent  too  hastily.    I  have  recovered  my  appetite.    My  sleep  is  as 

it  used  to  be.     My  strength  also  recruits,  and  my  appearance  is 

that  of  health.     Yet  there  are  indications  that  my  recovery  is 


STAGES   THROUGH   FRANCE.  447 

not  sufficiently  confirmed — that  this  grizzle  of  health,  so  to  speak, 
must  harden  into  hone — before  I  can  resume  my  wonted  labours 
without  danger  of  a  relapse. 

My  heart  yearns  to  be  back  again;  to  escape  from  this 
wilderness  of  briars  and  thorns ;  from  this  land  of  darkness  and 
of  the  shadow  of  death  ;  and  to  employ  with  more  zeal  and  love 
and  constancy,  than  I  ever  knew  before,  all  my  faculties  and 
afiections  in  the  service  of  that  Kedeemer,  whose  cause  is  unut- 
terably more  precious  to  my  eyes  than  ever;  and  whose 
graciousness  to  me  in  this  my  religious  exile,  surpassing  all  his 
former  kindnesses,  "filling  my  mouth  with  good  things" — yea, 
"my  soul  with  marrow  and  fatness" — has  laid  upon  me  an 
amount  of  obligations  which  I  am  unable  to  calculate,  far  less 
to  repay.  But  what  I  have  and  am,  my  sinfulness  excepted,  is 
all  His  own ;  and  by  His  grace,  I  will  render  to  my  Saviour- 
God,  the  things  which  are  God's.  But  ardent  as  is  this  my 
desire,  I  have  no  doubt  that  my  duty  is  yet  to  wait  for  a  little 
while;  and  then  my  confidence  is,  that  I  shall  come  to  my 
family  and  my  flock,  in  something  of  the  "fullness  of  the  bles- 
sing of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

To  write  you  a  particular  account  of  what  I  have  seen  and 
heard,  and  where  I  have  been,  is  impossible.  A  volume  and 
not  a  letter  would  be  requisite  for  that.  Summarily,  I  left  Paris 
on  the  15th  January ;  passed  on  to  the  South — visiting  Lyons, 
famous  for  its  silks  and  its  sufferings;  for  here  the  butcheries 
of  the  Eevolution  displayed  their  full-sized  horrors.  The  pro- 
cess of  the  national  axe,  the  guillotine,  though  in  perpetual 
motion,  was  too  slow  for  the  fiends  who  directed  it ;  and  the 
miserable  inhabitants,  gathered  together  in  the  heart  of  the  city 
strewed  in  death  by  thousands  at  a  stroke  under  vollies  of 
o-rapeshot  from  a  train  of  artillery — so  that  the  great  square,  La 
Place  de  Belle  Cour,  literally  floated  with  the  blood  of  the  slain. 
Thence  I  went  on  to  Avignon — for  many  years  the  residence 
of  the  Popes ;  and  yet  bearing  abundant  marks  of  the  enlighten- 
ing influence  of  the  "  Holy  See."  Thence  to  Orange — once  the 
property  of  the  Dutch  Stadtholder,  though  in  the  bosom  of 
France ;  and  a  strong-hold  of  Protestantism.  Thence  to  Nismes 
— seat  of  the  late  atrocious  persecution  of  the  Protestants  (only 
two  years  ago),  about  which  my  Lord  Wellington,  probably 


448  MEETS  AN   OLD  ACQUAINTANCE. 

from  ignorance — and  Mr,  Hyde  de  Neuville,  certainly  not  from 
ignorance — have  officially  uttered  such  enormous  falsehoods  to 
the  governments  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  To 
Montpelier — the  beautiful  resort  of  invalids.  To  Marseilles 
— the  most  elegant  and  cleanly  city  in  France ;  renowned 
for  its  Lazaretto,  its  dread  of  the  Plague,  its  commerce, 
and  its  inflexible  quarantine.  Her  Eoyal  Highness,  the 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Naples,  and  now  the  consort  of  the  Due 
de  Berri,  could  not,  with  all  the  influence  of  her  sex  and  rank, 
and  that  of  two  courts  to  back  it,  obtain  a  greater  relaxation  of 
the  rule,  than  to  preform  quarantine  only  eighteen  days,  although 
no  contagious  disorder  was  pretended  to  be  on  board,  or  at 
Naples.  To  Toulon,  the  Mediterranean  station  of  the  French 
navy  ;  where  we  were  not  permitted  to  see  one  of  the  wonders 
of  Europe — the  arsenal,  and  the  military  foundry  ;  because  we 
were  "  etrangers.^^  The  scowling  brow  and  surly  tone  of  the 
commanding  officer,  showed  that  he  took  us  for  Englishmen^ 
whom  all  ranks  of  the  people  here  concur  in  hating  with  the 
most  profound  sincerity.  So,  to  mortify  us.  Monsieur  le  Com- 
mandant growled  out  a  fib — a  small  matter,  which  costs  a 
Frenchman  little  trouble  and  no  remorse.  To  Frejus,  insepara- 
bly connected  with  Bonaparte — being  the  spot  from  which  he 
embarked  for  his  new  empire  of  Elba,  and  near  which  he  landed 
to  retake  his  old  empire  of  France,  merely  by  way  of  diversion 
previous  to  his  drubbing  at  Waterloo,  and  his  pilgrimage  to 
St.  Helena.  To  Nice,  the  first  city  of  Italy  after  quitting  France 
on  that  route — remarkable  for  its  delightful  climate  and  its 
healthiness.  Oranges  were  in  full  growth  in  the  open  air  in 
February,  Though  immediately  on  the  very  edge  of  the  sea 
whose  waves  wash  the  walls  of  its  promenade,  the  atmosphere 
is  perfectly  dry.  To  Geneva,  by  our  old  road,  on  which  we 
returned  as  far  as  Valence  on  the  Rhone,  the  direct  passage 
being  very  dangerous,  if  not  impracticable  for  a  light  vehicle. 

At  Geneva,  I  found  myself  at  home ;  the  courtesy  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  their  social  manners,  resembling,  in  many  things 
those  of  New  York,  transported  me,  as  by  enchantment,  to  an 
immeasurable  distance  from  the  heartless  and  frigid  solitude  of 
the  French.  Here  I  met  with  our  old  acquaintance,  Mr.  Duby, 
in  very  snug  circumstances.     No  man  is  more  respected  at  Gen- 


DECEASE   OF  AMERICAN   FRIENDS.  449 

eva.  From  both  himself  and  his  lad}-,  I  received  attentions 
which  I  cannot  remember  but  with  gratitude.  lie  retains  much 
affection  for  New  York,  and  speaks  very  feelingly  of  the  friend- 
ships showed  him  there.  He  has  a  son  grown  up  who  is  pre- 
paring for  the  ministry.  Twenty  days  in  this  city,  which  owes 
all  its  importance  to  the  sagacity  of  that  peerless  man,  John 
Calvin,  flew  away  as  if  Time  had  mounted  an  additional  pair  of 
wings,  and  I  left  it  on  the  20th  instant  with  unfeigned  regret. 
Five  days  and  an  half  brought  us  back  again  to  this  hateful 
metropolis  of  frivolity  and  vice. 

Thus  have  I  travelled  in  France,  Italy,  and  Switzerland,  in 
the  course  of  a  little  more  than  two  months,  nearly  two  thou- 
sand miles  without  any  untoward  accident.  The  weather,  ex- 
cept in  returning  from  Geneva,  when  it  was  somewhat  cold,  has 
been  uniformly  delightful.  My  heart  swells  when  I  recall  the 
goodness  and  mercy  which  have  followed  me;  and  I  cannot  but 
regard  them  as  ominous  of  blessings  in  store. 

Next  week  I  set  off  on  a  flying  tour  to  Holland,  whence  I 
propose  to  return  to  England,  so  as  to  be  in  London  by  the  6th 
of  May ;  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  holding  its  annual 
meeting  on  the  7th,  and  the  London  Missionary  Society  their's 
on  the  14th.  After  "  assisting,"  as  the  French  speak  when  they 
only  mean  "to  be  present,"  at  those  meetings,  I  have  to  make 
a  second  journey  to  Scotland,  which  will  consume  a  month  or 
six  weeks  more ;  and  shall  probably  close  ray  European  expe- 
dition at  Liverpool,  whence  it  is  my  present  purpose  to  embark 
for  that  dear,  dear  America.  The  Angel  of  God's  jDresence 
save  you  all ! 

Extracts  of  a  letter  to  Miss  E.  P.  Mason  from  her  father,  dated 
Paris,  April  3,1817,  alluding  to  information  recently  received : — 

'•Mr.  G.  Morris  is  dead!  Mr.  Dallas  I  hear  is  dead  !  Dr. 
Strong,  of  Hartford,  is  dead  !  Dr.  Dwight  is  dead !  Oh  how  is 
Death  doing  his  work !  Glory  of  this  world,  what  art  thou  noiv 
to  them  who  sought  thee,  and  have  left  thee  forever  ?  Word  of 
eternal  life!  Honour  that  cometh  from  God!  Saviour!  Sanc- 
tifier!  Father,  Brother,  Friend,  Advocate,  Portion  !  What  are 
ye  not  now  to  them  who  have  gone  to  receive  the  recompense 
of  reward  ? 

29 


450  FAVOUEED   BY  THE   WEATHER. 

"I  saw  on  Sabbath  the  ceremony  of  the  Eoyal  family  going 
to  church.  How  my  soul  pitied  these  splendid  miserables  ! 
Then  felt  I  the  force  of  the  wise  man's  exclamation,  '  Yanity  of 
vanities,  saith  the  preacher,  all  is  vanity.'  Folly  is  bound  up 
in  their  hearts  while  they  live,  and  after  that  they  go  down  to 
the  dead.  There  are  few  kings  with  whom  I  should  choose  to 
go  down.  Poor  mortals,  they  have  their  rewards  !  I  should 
think  an  exchange  of  my  fireside  in  Warren  Street  for  the  Pal- 
ace of  Tuilleries  and  the  diadem  of  Empire  a  very  silly  bargain 
even  for  this  world  ;  but  for  the  next,  be  my  lot  with  the  un- 
known to  '  the  princes  of  this  world' — with  the  children  of  faith 
in  the  faithful  word — children  who  are  heirs  of  God,  and  joint- 
heirs  with  Jesus  Christ !" 


TO   MRS.  C.  VAN   VECHTEN,  SCHENECTADY. 

Paris,  April  3, 1817. 

My  Daughter  :  Your  letter  of  the  9th  December  I  received 
on  the  26th  of  last  month.  It  had  been  waiting  a  considerable 
time  at  Paris,  whither  I  returned  on  the  25th  from  an  excursion 
of  more  than  two  months  to  the  South.  During  that  interval, 
I  visited  Lyons,  Avignon,  Orange,  Nismes,  Montpelier,  Mar- 
seilles, Toulon,  Nice  and  Geneva — travelling  about  eighteen 
hundred  miles.  My  health  has  been  growing  continually  bet- 
ter, but  by  slow  degrees.  The  inroad  upon  the  stamina  of  my 
frame  was  very  deep ;  a  little  more  and  it  had  been  vital.  I 
could  not  myself  be  sensible  of  its  extent  and  power,  but  by  the 
obstinacy  with  which  it  kept  possession.  Through  the  great 
kindness  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  I  have  been  almost  perfectly 
restored ;  and  nothing  is  now  wanting,  as  to  my  bodily  condi- 
tion, to  enable  me  to  resume  my  labours  in  the  holiest  and  most 
heavenly  of  human  employments,  but  the  consolidation,  so  to 
speak,  of  my  newly-acquired  health.  Goodness  and  mercy,  my 
dear  Catharine,  have  indeed  followed  me.  In  a  season  almost 
without  example  for  deluges  of  rain  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  I 
have  been  favoured  with  perfectly  fine  weather  during  my  whole 
tour.  In  Scotland,  England,  and  France,  I  have  arrived  at  my 
different  stations  with  the  commencement  of  the  fine  weather; 
have  had  it  almost  continually  during  my  stay ;  and  have  left 


DANGER   OF   TRAVELLING   IN   ITALY.  451 

them  successively  just  before  the  rains  began  again;  so  that 
while  the  papers  were  filled  with  accounts  of  the  floods  in  all 
directions,  both  where  I  had  been  and  where  I  expected  to  go, 
I  had  sunshine  and  most  delightful  temperature.  For  four 
weeks  together,  in  January  and  Februarj'-,  in  the  south  of 
France  and  the  borders  of  Italy,  there  was  scarcely  a  cloud  on 
the  face  of  heaven,  and  very  little  necessity  for  fire.  At  this 
moment  the  atmosphere  is  as  mild  and  genial  as  could  be  wished. 
I  returned  to  Paris  the  very  day  the  rain  ceased.  Monsieur  Sol 
threw  off  his  night-cap  the  next  morning,  and  has  not  put  it  on 
but  for  a  few  minutes  since. 

You  will  wonder  that  I  went  into  Italy  no  further  than  Nice. 
My  time  hardly  allowed  of  a  trip  to  the  metropolis  of  arts  and 
apostasy.  Yet  I  should  have  attempted  it,  had  I  not  been  hin- 
dered by  other  things.  It  is  impossible  to  go  by  land  from 
Nice  to  Genoa  in  a  carriage.  It  was  almost  impossible  to  go 
on  mules  at  that  season  of  the  year — the  ice  and  snow  on  the 
mountains  covering  the  road  along  the  brink  of  tremendous 
precipices,  and  putting  your  life  in  jeopardy  every  moment. 
The  wind  was  directly  ahead  all  the  while  I  remained  at  Nice, 
The  only  water  conveyance  is  an  open,  clumsy,  filthy  vessel, 
called  a  felucca.  The  navigators  are  ignorant  and  lazy,  and  a 
sail  of  thirty-six  hours  was  likely  to  be  protracted  to  a  fortnight, 
with  the  additional  benefit  of  being  put  every  now  and  then 
ashore  in  an  Italian  villa-ge  amidst  heaps  of  "comparisons," 
(comparisons  are  '^  odoriferous  "  says  Mrs.  Slip-slop,)  and  mill- 
ions of  animated  beings  which  love  to  dwell  about  the  persons 
of  modern  Romans.  So  the  scheme  was  given  up.  It  was 
well.  Such  heavy  snows  fell  shortly  after,  that  my  passage  of 
the  Alps  would  have  been  shut  against  my  return  by  land.  I 
might  have  been  obliged  to  take  a  passage  from  Leghorn  to 
Marseilles,  and  been  quaranteened  there  for  a  month  or  two. 
Besides,  some  of  the  highways  are  infested  with  brigands,  so 
as  to  render  travelling  in  Italy  dangerous.  Six  gentlemen  on 
their  way  to  Naples,  a  few  weeks  ago,  were  attacked  by  a  band 
of  armed  ruffians,  were  robbed,  and  two  of  them  murdered. 
Thus  have  all  things  been  ordered  right.  To-morrow,  if  the 
Lord  will,  I  set  oft'  for  Holland  by  the  way  of  Brussels,  and  cal- 
culate upon  being  in  London  a  month  hence.  After  another  ex- 


452  SENSE   OF   DIVINE   MERCIES. 

pedition  to  Scotland,  I  propose  to  finish  my  land  tour  at  Liver- 
pool ;  thence  to  sail  for  New  York ;  and  I  hope  to  embrace  my 
precious  ones  in  the  month  of  August. 

Yes,  my  daughter,  my  precious  ones.  For  very,  very  dear, 
and  deservedly  so,  they  are  to  my  heart.  Few  men  have  such 
ample  reason  of  thankfulness  ^ov  family  mercies^  as  I  have.  Few 
children  have  such  a  mother  to  love  and  venerate.  Few  bro- 
thers and  sisters  are  so  knit  together  in  harmony,  and  few  pa- 
rents can  be  so  happy  in  their  children.  I  cannot  embody  my 
emotions  in  words ;  but  my  daughter  has  only  to  cast  her  eye 
inward  to  find  their  counterpart.  What  an  accumulation  of 
bounties !  It  has  always  been  God's  method,  to  subdue  and 
melt  and  mould  me  by  loving  kindnesses.  I  ought  surely  to  be 
a  tender  father  to  my  dutiful  children  ;  for  he  has  been  unutter- 
ably tender  to  me  even  when  undutiful.  I  trust  him  for  my 
children  also.  "  I  will  be  thy  God,  and  the  God  of  thy  seed," 
is  a  promise  to  which  all  the  tendrils  of  my  heart  cling.  May 
he  be  my  Catharine's  help  and  hope  ;  the  strength  of  her  heart 
and  her  portion  forever ! 

Give  my  love  to  Jacob.  Tell  him  to  be  of  good  courage  ;  to 
be  faithful  to  his  master.  I  would  say  to  him,  in  the  words 
of  Paul  to  Timothy,  "  Thou  therefore,  my  son,  be  strong,"  not 
in  thyself,  remember,  but  "in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  J^ 
The  Lord  bless  my  children. 


TO  MRS.  MASON. 

Antwerp,  April  16th,  1817. 
My  Dear  Nancy  :  I  wrote  to  you  from  Paris  on  the  28th 
ult.,  if  I  rightly  recollect ;  and  also  to  Abraham ;  and  again 
from  the  same  place  on  the  4th  ult,,  to  Euphemia,  John,  and 
Catharine.  Again  to  you  from  Brussels  on  the  11th.  I  am 
now  on  my  way  to  Holland,  and  finding  a  vessel  about  to  sail 
for  Boston,  I  drop  aline  lest  the  former  letters  should  miscarry. 
To-day,  at  2  o'clock,  I  set  out  for  Utrecht  through  Breda  ;  ex- 
pect to  reach  Utrecht  to-morrow  at  twelve,  and  to  be  at  Amster- 
dam by  Saturday  night.  Thence  my  route  is  to  Haarlaem,  to 
Leyden,  to  the  Hague,  to  Eotterdam,  to  Helvoetsluys,  when  I 
expect  to  take  the  packet  for  Harwick  in  England,  so  as  to  be 


TOUR  THROUGH  BELGIUM.  453 

in  London  in  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  on  the  7th  of  May. 

You  see  that  my  motions  must  be  very  rapid ;  and  great 
cause  of  thankfulness  have  I  that  the  state  of  my  health  does 
not  forbid  it.  The  weather  has  been  exceedingly  changeable 
for  a  week  or  ten  days  back ;  cold,  mild,  clear,  cloudy,  rain, 
hail,  sunshine,  in  quick  succession.  I  have  taken  cold  in  con- 
sequence of  these  variations,  but  not  in  any  great  degree.  Yet 
I  feel  that  my  strength  needs  confirmation. 

At  Brussels  I  preached  last  Lord's  day  to  a  small  congrega- 
tion in  the  church  where  the  King  attends  worship  when  he  is 
in  that  city.  Four  ladies  of  the  court  were  present ;  one  or  two 
of  them,  intimate  friends  of  the  Queen,  and  said  to  be,  not  only 
"honourable,"  but  "devout"  women — Christians  of  eminent 
attainment,  and  who  have  long  "  adorned  the  doctrine  of  God 
our  Saviour."  The  Queen  also  is  viewed  as  a  woman  of  piety. 
It  is  somewhat  encouraging,  when  those  who  are  of  "  the  salt 
of  the  earth,"  are  found  "in  kings'  houses."  His  Majesty  is 
mortally  hated  by  the  Catholics  in  Belgium,  on  account  of  pro- 
tecting the  Protestants,  and  giving  them  equal  civil  privileges 
with  themselves.  The  spirit  of  Popery  is  unaltered  and  un- 
alterable. If  any  one  who  has  the  least  regard  for  the  Grospel 
of  Jesus  Christ,  should  begin  to  think  favourably  of  it,  or 
imagine  that  we  have  an  interest  in  common  with  it,  let  him 
visit  these  countries,  open  his  eyes  upon  objects  which  surround 
him  in  every  direction,  and  wonder  at  the  imposition  which  he 
has  practised  upon  himself.  It  is  impossible  to  give  in  writing 
a  just  idea  of  the  prevailing  abominations;  the  broad,  coarse 
idolatry  ;  the  foul,  terrifying  pollutions  of  Papal  lands — always 
growing  worse  and  worse  in  proportion  as  you  approach  the 
seat  of  the  beast — the  abode  of  the  man  of  "the  seven  hills" — 
the  palace  of  the  scarlet-clad,  blood-intoxicated  "  mother  of 
harlots." 

I  am  called  away  to  go  for  my  passport.     Adieu. 


In  the  foregoing  letters,  but  little  is  said  of  particular  occur- 
rences in  the  several  places  which  Dr.  Mason  visited.  So  far 
as  Geneva  is  concerned,  this  omission  may  be,  in  some  measure, 


454  STUDENTS  INQUIRING  AFTER  TRUTH. 

supplied  from  other  sources.  A  letter  found  in  Bruen's 
Memoirs,  p.  23,  dated  March  26th,  1817,'  furnish  a  key  to 
certain  events  which  transpired  both  at  that  time  and 
afterwards : — 

"  It  is  to  be  lamented  that  so  many  of  Calvin's  successors 
should  be  unworthy  of  that  honour.     But  it  gives  us  great 
pleasure  to  find,  that  i-)robably  the  worst  time  has  gone  by; 
especially  among  the  young  ministers  and  the  students,  there  is 
a  strong  inclination  towards  the  truth.  So  little  real  knowledge 
does  the  course  of  lectures  given  by  the  Professors  afford  them, 
that  they  are  anxious  to  seize  every  opportunity  of  instruc- 
tion.    A  Scotch  gentleman  (Mr.  Haldane)  who  has  been  there 
some  time,  has  a  number  who  visit  him  regularly  to  study  the 
Scriptures — a  subject  to  which  most  of  the  Professors  do  not 
think  of  turning  their  attention.     One   of  the  things  which 
made  my  time  glide  by  so  rapidly,  was  the  number  who  came 
continually  to  have  their  difficulties  explained,   and  the  doc- 
trines of  grace  illustrated.     The  evening  before  we  came  away, 
at  one  time,  Dr.   Mason  had,  I  think,  fourteen.     It  is  almost 
impossible  to  conceive  with  what  anxiety  they  inquire,  and  the 
influence  it  has  when  they  find  persons  from  remote  regions 
answering  immediately  the  current  objections  to   these   doc- 
trines.    It  could  not  flxil  to  strike    me    as  very   remarkable, 
that  we  should  have  arrived  there  jast  at  this  time,  when  the 
line   is   becoming  marked;  and  it  is   very   evident  that  Dr. 
Mason's  character  and  instructions  will  not  be  without  effect. 
This  visit  then  may  prove  of  high  consequence  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  church." 

Subsequent  and  connected  events  are  mentioned  in  a  commu- 
nication to  Dr.  Mason  from  the  same  pen  : — 

Geneva,  Nov.  7,  1817. 

My  Very  Dear  Friend  :  1  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  the 
kind  letter  which  you  sent  to  me  from  Liverpool.  From  the 
winds  which  have  prevailed  during  the  past  month,  I  indulge 
the  hope  that  you  are  now  safely  at  home.  I  am  once  more  at 
Geneva,  in  our  old  apartment,  thinking  of  you,  and  of  all  the 
good  and  evil  that  has  taken  place  since  we  were  here  together. 

But  as  this  is  to  be  a  letter  of  business,  I  proceed  to  the  his- 


TROUBLE  AMONG   THE   PASTORS.  455 

tory.  You  may  recollect  that  a  few  days  after  we  left  this  city, 
there  was  a  paragraph  in  the  Paris  papers,  stating  that  an  Eng- 
lish Methodist  had  established  himself  at  Geneva.  This  was 
Mr.  Drummund,  a  partner  in  an  opulent  banking  house  in  Lon- 
don, and  who,  I  fear,  is  somewhat  in  the  ideas  of  those  whose 
secession  from  the  Church  of  England  has  made  so  much  noise. 
His  residence  here  has  been  productive  of  the  most  important 
consequences.  Mr.  Haldane  was  still  here  some  time  after  our 
departure ;  and  if  Mr.  D.  be  inclined  to  Antinomianism,  as  I 
suppose  Mr.  H.  is  not  at  all,  yet  their  sentiments  are  in  unison 
on  the  points  of  Baptism  and  church  discipline.  They  of  course 
consider  it  the  greatest  service  they  could  render  the  Church  of 
Christ,  to  produce  a  separation  in  the  Church  of  Geneva.*  The 
conduct  of  the  Pastors  speedily  gave  them  an  occasion.  For 
these,  alarmed  by  the  instruction  which  the  students  were  in 
the  habit  of  receiving  from  Mr.  H.,  and  after  his  departure  from 
Mr.  D.,  used  their  best  endeavours  to  prevent  their  attendance. 
Before  our  visit,  M.  Cellerier  preached  a  sermon  in  which  he 
spoke  of  "  the  dangerous  error  of  Arianism  ;  "  which  produced 
from  one  of  the  opposite  party  the  sermon  of  which  we  heard 
so  much — declaring  "that  it  does  not  concern  us  to  know 
whether  Jesus  Christ  be  God  or  man,  provided  we  adore  him." 
Against  this  sermon  of  the  Pastor  Heyer,  M.  Cellerier  protested 
in  the  Company.  The  people,  who  never  before  had  imagined 
that  there  was  much  serious  difierence  of  opinion  between  their 
pastors,  began  to  express  their  surprise.  Then  our  friend  Malan 
preached  the  sermon  which  I  hope  you  will  receive  when  this 
letter  reaches  you.  It  makes  a  great  deal  of  noise.  The  Ari- 
ans  discover  in  it  une  tete  tout  a  fait  exallce  ;  the  orthodox 
think  they  see  the  truth  stated  in  a  manner  calculated  rather  to 
repel,  than  to  gain  over  their  opponents.  The  pastors  resolved 
to  put  an  end  to  the  debate  by  summary  process — which  cer- 
tainly was  the  wisest  way  for  men  who  are  much  better  inform- 
ed on  Botany  than  Theology  ;  and  more  capable  of  telling  how 
many  pages  there  are  in  the  treatises  of  Eousseau,  than  how 
many  chapters  in  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Eomans.     Though  not 

*  It  would  seem  from  the  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Haldaue,  that  he  at  least,  carefully 
avoided  the  discussion  of  church  polity  and  ceremonies  at  Geaeva. 


456  DR.   MALAN. 

chargeable  with  direct  infidelity,  they  certainly  are  with  the 
most  flagrant  and  almost  incredible  neglect  of  the  Scriptures. 
Accordingly,  "  the  promise,"  a  copy  of  which  I  sent  you  the 
moment  I  obtained  it  in  London,  is  drawn  up  and  agreed  upon  ; 
and  we  have  "  the  venerable  Company  of  Pastors  of  Geneva" 
enacting  that  no  one  shall  take  up  and  treat  explicitly  in  a  whole 
sermon,  or  part  of  a  sermon,  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  original 
sin,  efficacious  grace,  and  predestination.  To  this  act,  Malan 
courageousl}^  refused  to  submit ;  and  they  in  consequence  have 
forbidden  him  to  preach  till  he  does  "  lui  out  defundu  la  chaire.''^ 
Many  things  which  occurred,  I  leave  him  to  narrate  as  he  has 
promised  to  do  in  a  letter  which  I  have  promised  to  send  with 
this  one.  He  has  suffered  many  persecutions  and  is  regarded  as 
the  person  who  has  thrown  in  the  apple  of  discord.  While  he 
suffered  in  this  way,  he  was  incessantly  pressed  to  separate  him- 
self entirely  from  the  church  and  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  small 
number  who  had  left  the  communion.  Motives  were  presented 
to  him  in  every  shape,  especially  in  that  most  likely  to  affect  a 
man  of  such  ardent  feelings.  I  am  sure  that  it  will  gratify  you 
much  when  you  know  that  it  was  our  visit  alone  which  jjre- 
vented  this.     But  you  will  learn  all  this  from  himself. 

I  cannot  but  rejoice  that  Malan  has  not  joined  them.  Al- 
though with  his  energy  and  eloquence  and  piety,  things  would 
at  present  have  borne  a  very  different  aspect,  yet  we  must 
doubt,  whether  with  so  many  pastors  decidedly  orthodox  in  the 
church  (there  are  five  most  avowedly  so),  this  measure  of 
dernier  resort  was  necessary.  If  the  question  were,  whether 
Malan  should  preach  at  all  or  not,  it  were  easy  to  answer ;  but 
this  interdict  may  be  temporary.  Some  think  it  will  be  so ; 
and  the  ground  taken  by  its  authors  and  defenders  always  goes 
on  this  supposition ;  and  it  does  not  extend  beyond  the  limits 
of  one  Canton;  so  that  Malan  has  Avithin  a  few  days  been 
preaching  at  Berne  and  JSTeufchatel.  To  have  joined  in  this 
separation  would  have  been  to  shut  himself  out  from  all  con- 
nexion with  the  Helvetic  churches,  and  from  a  large  and 
promising  field  of  usefulness.  Where  there  are  such  solemn 
interests  at  stake,  I  tremble  while  my  advice  is  asked ;  and  the 
preceding  fact  is  the  principal  one  which  enables  me  to  decide 
for  myself,  and  to  advise  Malan  to  remain  as  he  is,  to  see  what 


A   PERPLEXINa  QUESTION.  457 

change  a  little  time  may  produce,  and  to  take  every  proper 
occasion  of  spreading  the  Gospel  in  the  neighbouring  Cantons. 

As  to  the  Church  of  Geneva  in  particular  there  is  a  great 
deal  to  be  said  for,  as  well  as  against,  breaking  communion 
with  it.  To  be  obliged  to  acknowledge  the  ministrations  of 
Arian  pastors,  who  hold  and  exercise  rights  most  contradictory 
to  Christian  principles  and  liberty,  is  deeply  distressing.  If 
patronage  alone  was  thought  a  suflacient  reason  of  separating  in 
Scotland,  what  shall  we  say  here,  where  an  authority  has  been 
usurped  by  this  "venerable  company"  of  disregarding  every 
wish  of  the  people  and  of  deciding  everything  accorc^ng  to 
clerical  favouritism.  The  Professors  teach  Arianism  ;  the  Pas- 
tors preach  it ;  the  church  has  no  confession  of  faith,  and  has 
ceased  to  require  a  signature  even  to  Calvin's  catechism.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  some  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal; 
yet  a  formal  injunction  not  to  be  touch  ("polemiquement"  is 
their  favourite  qualification,)  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
religion  looks  very  like  a  profession  of  contrary  principles ;  and 
in  these  circumstances  scarcely  any  of  the  orthodox  members 
of  the  "  Company,"  either  peep  or  mutter.  If  there  had  been  a 
man  here  of  Calvin's  power  to  organize  a  separation  of  the 
precious  from  the  vile,  and  shake  off  at  once,  with  the  heretics, 
those  shackles  which  bind  religion  to  the  State  ;  if  the  orthodox 
could  have  been  closely  united  and  brought  to  this,  it  had  been 
a  glorious  result. 

These  affairs  have  excited  vast  attention  on  the  continent 
and  in  Great  Britain.  The  infidels  here  and  elsewhere  boast 
loudly  of  the  dissentions ;  and  the  Catholics  have  taken  it  up 
with  great  vigour. 

Malan  is  charged  with  want  of  prudence.  But  if  he  has  erred, 
of  which  I  am  not  sure,  it  has  been  from  superabundance  of 
zeal — a  cause  not  likely  to  lead  many  of  his  compatriots  into 
error,  and  the  bad  effects  of  which  ought  to  be  excused  on  ac- 
count of  its  rarity. 

I  cannot  but  hope,  after  all,  that  the  explosion  will  do  good, 
and  that  the  discussion  which  it  will  excite,  especially  in  Eng- 
land (whose  public  sentiment  has  much  more  effect  here  than 
that  of  any  other  nation),  will  assist  the  efforts  of  those  who 


458  MR.  drummund's  liberality. 

remain  faithful.     But  there  is  vast  want  of  cooperation  among 
the  orthodox. 

Mr.  Drummund  has  expended  a  great  deal  of  money  on  the 
continent  in  printing  tracts,  and  bibles  of  which  he  published  an 
edition  at  his  own  expense  in  Naples.  He  is  at  the  expense  of 
printing,  '  Calvin's  Institutes,'  in  the  original  French.  He  is  de- 
voted to  the  service  of  the  truth,  as  he  understands  it. 

My  kind  friend,  remember  me  in  those  moments  when  you 
approach  that  point  of  Christian  union — the  throne  of  grace. 
Ever  with  the  most  affectionate  respect,  your 

M,  BEUEN. 

Extracts  translated  from  the  letter  of  Dr.  Malan  referred  to 
above,  here  follow : — 

TO    THE   rev.  dr.  MASON. 

''Dear  and  Eespected  Father  and  Friend:  May  the 
sight  of  this  letter  give  you  as  much  joy,  as  your  remembrance 
does  each  day  to  your  good  friends  of  Geneva  1  You  have  left 
in  our  hearts  deep  traces :  your  name  lives  among  us  :  our  dear 
children  never  pronounce  it  without  respect  and  affection.  Our 
dear  Bruen  has  come  to  rejoice  our  souls  ;  he  finds  himself  at 
home,  as  in  a  family  of  his  relations  ;  but  he  is  alone  and  it  is 
not  without  a  deep  sigh  that  my  wife  and  myself  recall  that  a 
few  months  ago,  it  was  with  you,  dear  and  good  friend,  that  he 
visited  our  little  dwelling. 

"Already  by  the  newspapers,  and  by  some  persons  returned 
from  England,  we  have  been  informed  that  you  have  delivered 
a  discourse  before  the  Bible  Society,  remarkable  for  the  strength 
and  the  elevation  of  the  thoughts:  we  learned  also,  though 
very  indirectly  that  you  made  some  sojourn  in  London,  but  I 
confess  to  you  that  we  had  some  fears  about  your  health  ;  it 
seemed  to  us  impossible  that  if  you  had  been  well  you  would 
have  written  us  nothing.  Bruen  has  informed  us  that  you  have 
published  a  letter  to  Travellers,  which  we  shall  yet  have :  he 
has  also  communicated  to  us  your  discourse  and  given  many 
particulars  concerning  your  real  condition.  We  have  passed 
through    very    difficult,    very  painful  circumstances.     It   was 


DE.  malan's  complication.  459 

then,  that  not  once  but  daily,  we  desired  your  presence.  For 
want  of  your  words,  we  have  recalled  your  principles,  your 
counsels,  your  faith ;  the  beautiful  sentences  that  you  have 
traced  upon  my  memory,  were  for  us  a  powerful  aid.  Yes,  my 
dear  and  venerable  friend,  nothing  is  more  certain  than  your 
remembrance  and  that  of  Bruen  have  guided  me  in  critical 
moments,  and  I  bless  God,  with  my  whole  soul,  for  having 
restored  this  strong  and  efficient  prop. 

"  The  sermon  that  I  preached  some  days  before  your  arrival 
at  Geneva,  upon  Justification  by  Faith  (Bruen  will  bring  it  to 
you ;  it  is  printed),  scandalized  the  good  Genevese  people,  confi- 
dent in  their  own  righteousness  and  much  irritated  that  a  young 
man  dared  to  put  under  his  feet  their  celebrated  charities,  com- 
munions, &c.,  &c.  You  know  that  the  'Venerable  Compagnie,' 
entirely  surprised  with  the  heresy  which  dared  to  revive  the 
opinions  of  the  obsolete  Calvin,  requested  me  not  to  preach 
that  discourse  again,  and  from  that  time  regarded  me  as  a  dan- 
gerous sectary ;  so  much  the  more  that,  instead  of  keeping 
myself  behind  the  walls  of  China,  I  visited  the  English  and 
American  Christians,  that  we  had  the  happiness  of  enjoying 
on  the  way.  Our  respected  friend,  Mr.  Haklane,  was  particu- 
larly odious  to  them;  and  you,  my  good  friend,  yourself,  were 
already  a  bugbear  to  them,  when  your  too  speedy  departure  left 
us  only  long  regrets. 

"  The  wicked  temper  of  our  opposers  gains  every  day  new 
strength ;  they  dream  in  their  wisdom  to  strike  a  great  blow, 
and  the  end  of  April  brought  to  light  an  agreement,  by  which 
the  Pastors  engaged  not  to  preach  ex'professo^  but  only  occasion- 
ally, and  in  passing,  as  also  without  being  positive, — 1st,  upon 
the  Divinity  of  Christ ;  2d,  upon  Original  Sin  ;  3d,  upon  Effica- 
cious Grace  ;  4th,  upon  Predestination.  There  were  at  that 
time  some  candidates  to  consecrate.  It  was  signified  to  them 
that  they  must  submit  themselves  to  this  regulation.  They 
bowed  their  heads  with  the  exception  of  one,  who  declared 
that  his  conscience  did  not  suffer  him  to  do  it ;  his  consecration 
was  therefore  forbidden." 

The  remainder  of  Dr.  Malan's  letter  narrates  subsequent' 
transactions  in  detail  too  minute  for  insertion  here. 

It  may  be  interesting,  however,  to  notice  an  incident  which 


460       INTELLECTUAL  TRAINING  OF  CHILDREN. 

occurred  at  Dr.  Malan's  table,  illustrating  the  intellectual  train- 
ing of  his  children.  It  is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Bruen  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend  in  Scotland: — 

"  What  do  you  think  of  my  sitting  down  at  table  at  my 
friend's  house  in  Geneva,  with  his  little  son  six  years  old,  who 
not  only  knew  the  name  of  everthing  he  wanted  in  Latin^  but 
could  sustain  a  conversation  in  that  language.  Of  this  little 
boy  it  may  amuse  you  to  hear,  that  when  Dr.  Mason  and  myself 
had  engaged  to  dine  with  his  father,  he  was  told,  as  something 
extraordinary,  that  two  Americans  were  to  be  there.  His  first 
exclamation  upon  seeing  us,  was, — ^Americaiii  !  non  sunt  cum 
plumis.''  He  had  no  other  idea  of  Americans  than  what  he  had 
derived  from  prints,  and  therefore  very  naturally  expected  to 
see  us  in  the  feathers  and  fantastic  garb  of  Indians." — (Memoirs 
of  Mr.  Bruen,  p.  44.) 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1817. 
IN    ENGLAND. 

Speech  at  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society — Letter  from  the  Eev.  Dr.  J. 
Pye  Smith — Dr.  Chalmers— Letter  to  Mrs.  Mason — Letter  to  Mrs.  Mason — 
Letter  to  Miss  E.  P.  Mason — Letter  to  Mr.  Hardcastle — Parting  "Words — Letter 
from  the  Rev.  M.  Bruen — Letter  from  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Duncan. 

Early  in  May  Dr.  Mason  was  enabled,  at  the  anniversary  of 
that  noble  institution,  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
to  execute  the  commission  with  which  on  leaving  home  he  had 
been  entrusted  by  his  own  Board  of  Directors.  The  manner  in 
which  he  performed  his  duty  on  that  interesting  occasion,  re- 
ceived at  the  time  unusual  applause  from  the  public  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  notice  taken  of  it  in  the  Christian 
Observer,  in  the  July  number  of  that  year,  is  as  follows : — 

BRITISH   AND    FOREIGN   BIBLE   SOCIETY. 

In  proceeding  with  our  account  of  the  last  Anniversary 
Meeting  of  this  Institution,  we  regret  that  we  cannot  give  the 
whole  of  the  very  original  and  forcible  speech  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Mason,  Secretary  to  the  American  Bible  Society.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  principal  passages  : — 

"My  Lord  and  Gentlemen: 

"I  felicitate  myself  this  day  upon  the  accomplishment  of 
one  of  the  dearest  wishes  of  my  heart — a  wish,  to  the  attain- 
ment of  which  I  have  adjusted  my  little  plans  and  motions 
for  the  last  five  months — the  happiness  of  being  present  at  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  I 
have  to  submit  a  motion,  which  I  shall  claim  your  lordship's 
indulgence  to  preface  with  a  few  remarks  ;  not  with  the  inten- 


462  THE  GREAT  PROBLEM  SOLVED. 

tion  of  informing  this  Society — that  would  be  an  attempt  to 
enlighten  the  source  of  that  light  which  has  itself  enlightened 
the  world,  on  all  points,  connected  with  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  ;  nor  with  a  view  of  exciting  the  zeal  of  the  Society 
— that  would  be  rebuked  by  its  appearance  to-day ;  but,  as  an 
humble  organ  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  I  would  beg 
leave  to  express  opinions  and  feelings  which,  though  perfectly 
familiar  to  the  minds  of  this  company,  are  of  some  value  on 
the  principle  of  sympathy,  as  they  are  the  views  and  feelings 
of  millions  of  your  fellow-men  and  fellow-Christians,  who  have 
the  blood  of  a  common  ancestry  running  in  their  veins,  and 
whose  hearts  beat  in  unison  with  your  own,  in  regard  to  the 
objects  of  this  great  institution. 

"  The  wise  and  the  good,  my  lord,  have  long  lamented  the 
divisions  and  alienations  which  have  severed  those  who  hold 
the  same  '  precious  faith,'  and  expect  to  meet  in  that  place 
where  there  shall  be  no  dissentions.  But  whether  there  was 
any  remedy  for  this  unhappiness,  whether  agreement  in  sub- 
stantial principle  could  be  made  to  supersede  differences  in 
subordinate  matters,  was  a  problem  too  mighty  for  them  to 
solve,  and  left  them  only  the  feeble  consolation  of  sighing  after 
a  blessing  which  they  despaired  of  enjoying.  But  the  problem 
which  had  thus  excited  the  desires,  appalled  the  resolution, 
and  extinguished  the  hope  of  age  after  age,  is  solved  at  last : 
it  is  solved  in  this  Institution. 

"  The  Bible  Society  acts  with  an  auspicious  energy  upon  all, 
even  the  lowest  classes  of  civil  society.  The  man  who  reads 
and  reverences  his  Bible,  is  not  the  man  of  violence  and  blood. 
He  will  not  rise  up  from  the  study  of  those  lessons  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  teaches,  to  commit  a  burglary.  He  will  not  travel 
with  his  Bible  under  his  arm,  and,  meditating  upon  its  con- 
tents, as  forming  the  rule  of  his  conduct,  to  celebrate  the  rites 
of  licentiousness  or  inebriety.  Assuredly  it  was  not  the  Bible 
which,  in  1780,  kindled  the  flames  of  Newgate  ;  nor  is  it  from 
the  stores  of  inspired  eloquence,  that  the  apostles  of  mischief 
draw  those  doctrines  and  speeches  which  delude  the  under- 
standing, and  exasperate  the  passions  of  an  ignorant  and  ill- 
judging  multitude.  If  there  are  any  two  maxims  which  go 
together,  under  the  sanction  of  Scriptural  authority,  they  are 


HAPPY  TENDENCY   OF   THE   BIBLE.  463 

these:  he  who  'fears  God,'  will  'honour  the  king;'  and  he  who 
does  both,  will  not  be  the  first  to  '  meddle  with  them  that  are 
given  to  change.'  On  the  contrary,  the  influence  of  the  Bible, 
and,  therefore,  of  Bible  Societies,  upon  the  habits  .of  the  com- 
munity, is  calculated  to  throw  up  around  every  paternal  govern- 
ment, a  rampart  better  than  walls,  and  guns,  and  bayonets — a 
rampart  of  human  hearts.  While,  at  the  same  time,  that  influ- 
ence over  those  who  are  in  authority,  descends,  in  its  turn, 
upon  the  State  at  large ;  and,  in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  and 
well-tempered  rule,  ramifies  its  genial  virtue  through  all  the 
branches  of  society.  So  that,  if  any  thing  can  make  a  glorious 
sovereign,  and  happy  subjects,  it  is  the  attachment  and  submis- 
sion of  both  to  the  oracles  of  God. 

"  For  the  very  same  reasons,  the  Bible,  in  proportion  as  it  is 
known  and  believed,  must  produce  a  generally  good  effect  on 
the  condition  of  the  world.  In  forming  the  character  of  the 
individual  and  the  nation,  if  cannot  fail  to  mould  also,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  the  conduct  of  political  governments 
toward  each  other.  It  is  not  in  the  Bible,  nor  in  the  spirit 
which  it  infuses,  that  the  pride  which  sacrifices  hecatombs  and 
nations  of  men  to  its  lawless  aggrandizement,  either  finds  or 
seeks  for  its  aliment;  and  had  Europe  been  under  the  sway  of 
the  Book  of  God,  this  age  had  not  seen  a  more  than  fabled 
monster  of  ambition  endeavouring  to  plant  one  foot  on  the 
heights  of  Montmartre,  and  the  other  on  the  hills  of  Dover ; 
and  while  he  scowled  on  the  prostrate  Continent,  stretching  out 
his  right  hand  to  rifle  the  treasures  of  the  East,  and  his  left  to 
crush  the  young  glories  of  the  West." 

After  pointing  out  the  future  prospects  of  the  Society,  and 
the  promised  consummation  of  the  Gospel  throughout  the  world. 
Dr.  Mason  continued : — "  Permit  me  to  add,  that  no  heart  is 
too  magnanimous,  no  arm  too  powerful,  no  station  too  exalted, 
to  lend  its  aid  in  promoting  so  magnificent  a  work.  In  that 
day,  when  all  human  things  shall  appear  in  their  own  littleness, 
and  shall  undergo  a  judgment  according  to  truth,  it  will  not  be 
a  source  of  shame  or  regret  that  princes  have  come  down  from 
their  thrones,  and  that  the  members  of  kingl}^  families  and  the 
possessors  of  ecclesiastical  preeminence,  have  mingled  with 
private  Christians  in  common  efforts  for  the  best  interests  of 


464  PKOSPECTS   OF   THE   SOCIETY. 

individual  and  social  man.  The  recollection  of  such  deeds  of 
goodness  will  never  sully  tlie  purity  of  tlie  mitre,  or  dim  the 
star  of  royalty. 

"  The  high  and  holy  interests  and  responsibilities  which  are 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  this  institution,  do  not  allow  it  to  go 
back,  or  to  hesitate.  Its  cause  and  interest  are  not  the  cause 
and  interest  of  a  few  visionaries,  inebriated  by  romantic  pro- 
jects. It  is  the  cause  of  more  than  giant  undertakings  in  regu- 
lar and  progressive  execution.  The  decisive  battle  has  been 
fought ;  opposition  comes  now  too  late.  He  who  would  arrest 
the  march  of  Bible  Societies,  is  attempting  to  stop  the  moral 
machinery  of  the  world,  and  can  look  for  nothing  but  to  be 
crushed.  The  march  must  proceed.  Those  disiplined  and  for- 
midable columns  which,  under  the  banner  of  the  Divine  Truth, 
are  bearing  down  upon  the  territories  of  death,  have  one  word 
of  command  from  on  high,  and  that  word  is,  '  Onward  !'  The 
command  does  not  fall  useless  on  the  ears  of  this  Society.  May 
it  go  'onward,' continuing  to  be,  and  with  increasing  splen- 
dour, the  astonishment  of  the  world,  as  it  is  the  most  illustri- 
ous monument  of  British  glory. 

"  A  word  more,  my  lord,  and  I  shall  have  done.  It  relates 
to  a  topic  on  which  I  know  not  whether  my  emotions  will 
allow  me  to  express  myself  distinctly ;  it  is  the  late  unhappy 
difference  between  my  ovv^n  country  and  this — between  the  land 
of  fathers  and  the  land  of  their  children.  I  cannot  repress  my 
congratulations  to  both,  that  the  conflict  was  so  short,  and  the 
reconciliation  so  prompt ;  and,  I  trust,  not  easily  to  be  broken. 
Never  again,  my  lord  (it  is  a  vow  in  which  I  have  the  concur- 
rence of  all  noble  spirits  and  all  feeling  hearts),  never  again 
may  we  see  that  humiliating  spectacle  of  two  nations  to  whom 
God  has  vouchsafed  the  enjoyment  of  rational  liberty  ;  two  na- 
tions who  are  extensively  engaged,  according  to  their  means,  in 
enlarging  the  kingdom,  in  spreading  the  religion  of  the  Lord 
Jesus — the  kingdom  of  peace — the  religion  of  love — those  two 
nations  occupied  in  the  unholy  work  of  shedding  each  other's 
blood!  'Never  again  may  such  a  spectacle  be  exhibted  to  the 
eyes  of  afflicted  Christianity !  May  their  present  concord,  writ- 
ten not  merely  with  pen  and  ink,  but  on  the  living  tablets  of 
the  heart,  enforced  by  the  sentiment  of  a  common  origin,  by 


INVITATION   TO   OXFORD.  465 

common  language,  principles,  habits,  and  hopes;  and  guaranteed 
bv  an  all-gracious  Providence,  be  uninterrupted  !  May  they, 
and  their  Bible  Societies,  striving  together  with  one  heart  and 
one  soul  to  bring  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  to 
manifest  good-will  toward  men,  go  on,  increasing  in  their  zeal, 
their  efforts,  and  their  success;  and  making  stronger  and 
stronger,  by  the  sweet  charities  of  the  Gospel,  the  bands  of 
their  concord  !" 

A  few  days  after,  he  received  a  gratifying  evidence  of  the 
friendly  regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished and  estimable  Professors  of  his  day : — 

DR.  J.  PYE  SMITH  TO  DR.  M. 

Hackney,  May  20th,  1817. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  It  has  added  to  my  disappointment  at  being 
from  home  when  you  did  me  the  honour  of  a  call  (and  when, 
to  our  increased  regret,  Mrs.  Smith  was  not  aware  of  your 
name  and  person),  before  your  continental  tour,  that  since  I 
have  heard  of  your  return  to  London,  I  have  been  frustrated 
in  every  attempt  to  be  introduced  to  you.  On  Friday,  I  heard 
that  you  were  gone,  or  going  to  Cambridge  ;  and  I  wrote  to  a 
worthy  friend  there,  begging  him  to  find  you  out,  and  deliver 
a  letter  which  I  sent ;  but  he  replies  that  his  search  has  been 
fruitless. 

The  more  especial  object  of  that  letter  was  to  urge  a  proposal 
which  I  hoped  might  be  agreeable  to  you,  as  it  would  be 
peculiarly  gratifying  to  a  valued  friend  in  my  church,  and  to 
myself.  That  friend  is  Mr.  Hale,  whose  name  you  may  pos- 
sibly know  as  the  author  of  several  works  on  the  police  and 
public  morals  of  London,  I  am  engaged  to  accompany  him  to 
Oxford  on  Saturday,  the  24th  instant,  to  stay  till  the  following 
Wednesday.  Our  friends  there  have  the  peculiar  command  of 
every  opportunity  and  facility  for  seeing  to  the  best  advantage, 
every  object  of  attention  in  all  the  colleges  and  halls  of  the 
University.  Now  Mr.  Hale  joins  me  in  earnestly  soliciting 
that  he  may  have  you  also  for  his  guest  on  this  excursion. 
Probably  you  have  already  visited  Oxford ;  but,  even  in  that 
case,  I  hope  that  the  special  advantages  with  which  we  shall 
be  favoured,  will  recompense  you  for  another  visit.  You  shall 
30 


466  MEETS  DK.   CHALMERS. 

be  guaranteed  from  importunities  to  preach,  except  such,  a 
service  should  be  entirely  agreeable  to  you,  I  trust  that  the 
ride  would  be  relaxing  to  your  mind,  and  beneficial  to  your 
health ;  and  the  enjoyment  of  your  society  will  be  to  me  and 
my  frieud  a  favour  which  we  shall  very  highly  prize. 

If  you  are  engaged  to  preach  for  Dr.  "Waugh,  next  Lord's 
day,  that  engagement,  I  seriously  believe,  ought  to  give  way ; 
and  I  venture  to  add  my  assurance  that  Dr.  Waugh  will  be  of 
the  same  opinion ;  for  I  know  his  kind  heart  too  well  to  doubt 
it,  provided  you  do  him  the  same  favour  the  Lord's  day  ensu- 
ing.  Sufficient  opportunity  exists  of  notifying  the  arrangement. 

Allow  me  again  to  press,  as  earnestly  as  I  can,  your  com- 
pliance with  Mr.  Hale's  invitation.  That  I  am  quite  disinter- 
ested in  doing  so  I  cannot  profess ;  for  the  extreme  ill  health 
of  Mrs.  Smith,  characterized  by  the  most  remarkable  variations 
and  total  uncertainty  of  being  tolerable  or  the  reverse — disables 
me  from  depending  on  having  the  opportunity  of  begging  to 
see  you  at  my  own  house. 

I  shall  be  to-morrow  at  the  King's  Head  Tavern,  in  the 
Poultry,  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  twelve ;  when  I 
shall  hope  to  receive  a  communication  from  you.  If  I  do  not, 
I  shall  try  to  call  at  Mr.  Richie's,  as  I  must  be  in  town  all  day, 
since  two  of  our  students  are  to  deliver  their  annual  orations  in 
the  evening  at  Broad  street ;  and  as  it  is  desirable  to  conclude 
the  arrangement  as  soon  as  convenient,  that  the  hour  for  call- 
ing for  you  on  Saturday  morning  may  be  settled. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  I  remain  yours,  in  the 
service  of  our  one  Lord, 

J.  PYE  SMITH. 

During  this  visit  to  London,  he  renewed  his  intercourse  with 
many  leading  Christians  and  philanthropists  of  various  denomi- 
nations whom  he  had  met  there  before,  and  formed  new  ac- 
quaintances of  great  value.  Among  the  latter  was  Dr. 
Chalmers,  of  whom  he  ever  afterwards  spoke  with  an  admira- 
tion bordering  on  rapture.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a 
similar  feeling  was  abundantly  reciprocated.  Dr.  Sprague,  in 
his  "Visits  to  European  Celebrities,"  says — "Dr.  Chalmers 
spoke  of  Dr.  M.  as  possessing  superlative  talents ;  and  said, 


IMPROVEMENT  IN  HEALTH  CHECKED.         467 

that  [in  1817,  he  heard  him  deliver  a  speech  in  London  whicli 
was  characterized  by  eloquence  which  he  had  rarely  known 
surpassed." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  John  Gibson,  of  Edinburgh,  occasioned  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  Mason,  Dr.  Chalmers  remarks:  "I  had  a  great 
deal  of  intercourse  with  him  in  1816  and  1817,  and  have  still 
the  most  vivid  recollection  both  of  his  great  colloquial  talents, 
and  the  general  strength  and  soundness  of  his  understanding. 
We  were  in  London  together  in  1817,  where  I  heard  him  at  a 
public  dinner  give  full  proof  of  his  masculine  vigour,  in  a 
speech  of  very  commanding  eloquence." 

Accounts  of  his  health,  and  journeys  from  place  to  place,  are 
given  in  letters  to  his  family  and  friends : — 

TO  MRS.  MASON. 

London,  June  6tb  1817. 

My  Dearest  :  In  the  latter  part  of  April,  I  wrote  from  Brus- 
sels, Antwerp,  Amsterdam,  and  Leyden.  I  hope  my  letters 
have  been  received. 

My  tour  through  Holland  has  proved  hurtful.  The  country 
deluged  with  water — damp  exhalations  on  every  side — chilly, 
drizzling  rains — the  whole  climate  most  ungenial — involved 
me  in  a  severe  cold  ;  then  a  smart  fever  of  short  duration  ;  and 
finally  threw  me  back  almost  to  the  point  of  ill  health  from 
which  I  had  set  out.  The  day  I  left  Paris  (April  5th),  I  felt 
well ;  but  it  seemed  to  be  all  nearly  undone  by  three  weeks  in 
Holland.  I  hastened  away  as  soon  as  possible,  and  have  greatly 
recruited  since  returning  to  England. 

It  is  my  design,  if  the  Lord  will,  to  set  out  for  the  North 
about  the  14th,  so  as  to  visit  Oxford,  Birmingham,  Sheffield, 
Leeds,  York,  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  Greenock,  and  be  at  Liver- 
pool to  take  ship  for  New  York,  as  early  in  July  as  I  can.  My 
calculation  is  to  be  with  you  in  the  month  of  August ;  proba- 
bly toward  the  latter  end ;  I  am  not  anxious  to  encounter  the 
severity  of  summer  heats  on  first  landing. 

I  am  so  hurried  and  distracted  by  incessant  calls,  that  I  can- 
not write  to  any  one  else  by  this  conveyance.  In  a  day  or  two 
I  shall  write  to  John  and  Euphemia.  I  am  now  going  to  my 
excellent  friends,  the  Ilardcastles ;  and  expect  to  spend  a  con- 


468  UNEXPECTEDLY   DETAINED. 

siderable  portion  of  next  week  at  their  delightful  residence,  four 
miles  from  London,  Hatcham  House.  Were  I  a  son,  brother, 
or  father,  I  could  not  experience  more  affectionate  kindness 
from  the  several  branches  of  that  lovely  family.  A  horse  and 
gig  are  constantly  at  my  command,  and  every  thing  that  any 
one  or  all  of  them  can  do  for  me.  I  shall  love  their  name, 
while  I  can  love  at  all. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  write  to  me  again.  The  next 
communication  will  be,  I  trust,  face  to  face.  In  that  sweet  hope, 
with  salutations  as  usual,  I  am,  my  beloved. 

Your  affectionate, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

TO   MRS.    MASON. 

Hatcham  House,  July  3,  1817. 

My  Dearest  Nancy  :  You  will,  no  doubt,  be  somewhat 
surprised  on  perceiving  this  letter  to  be  dated  from  the  seat  of  my 
invaluable  friend,  Mr.  Hardcastle,  in  vicinity  of  London.  I  had 
expected,  as  I  wrote  you  about  three  weeks  ago  by  Mrs- 
Lamb,  to  have  been  now  on  my  way  from  Scotland  to  Liver- 
pool, if  not  actually  there  in  readiness  to  embark  for  New 
York.  The  delay,  you  may  be  assured,  is  most  unwelcome  to 
me,  as  my  usual  composure  abroad  begins  to  yield  to  anxiety 
about  my  concerns  at  home.     But  it  was  unavoidable. 

The  moment  my  physician  permits,  I  shall  set  off.  I  cannot 
of  course  determine  when  that  will  be.  I  do  not  suppose  how- 
ever that  I  shall  be  kept  here  after  the  middle  of  the  month. 
In  that  event,  I  shall  strive  to  take  ship  at  Liverpool  the  first 
of  August;  and  my  friends  must  not  look  for  me  before  the 
month  of  September.  In  the  mean  time  it  will  gratify  them  to 
know  that  it  is  impossible  for  my  situation  to  be  more  comfort- 
able from  my  home  than  it  is  at  this  place.  The  scene  is  quite 
removed  from  London's  labyrinths,  and  heats,  and  dust,  and 
din.  The  scenery  extremely  beautiful.  All  nature  is  in  her 
loveliest  dress.  The  air  perfumed  by  the  breath  of  the  Al- 
mighty upon  "  the  fields  he  hath  blessed."  I  have  at  my  com- 
mand a  most  charming  saddle  horse,  and  ride  every  day. 
This  important  item  of  the  Doctor's  recipe,  I  could  not  have 


JOY  AT  THE   SUCCESS   OF  THE   BIBLE  SOCIETY.  469 

enjoyed  without  staying  a  while  here ;  and  so  the  medicines 
would  not  have  had  fair  play,  and  then  the  intellectual,  moral, 
and  religious  banquet  within  doors !  It  is  almost  too  much. 
But  it  has  been  and  is  my  Heavenly  Father's  method  to  subdue 
my  revolting,  and  recall  my  wandering  heart,  by  the  ^^  multitude 
of  His  mercies."  You  cannot  conceive  the  delicate,  attentive, 
affectionate  kindness,  which  I  receive  in  this  family.  It  should 
and  shall  be  one  of  my  last  injunctions  upon  my  children,  to 
show,  for  my  sake,  should  God  ever  put  it  into  their  power,  the 
most  grateful  friendship  to  whosoever  shall  have  the  blood  of 
the  Hardcastles  flowing  in  his  veins. 

Adieu.     Your  ever  affectionate, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


TO  MISS  E.  P.  MASON. 

Hatcham  House,  July  4th,  1817. 

My  Dear  Euphemia  :  Your  letter  of  the  26th  April,  from 
Baltimore,  gave  me  great  pleasure  on  account  both  of  its  general 
spirit  and  its  interesting  information.  The  progress  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  and  of  the  Sunday  schools,  gladdens 
the  hearts  of  multitudes  in  this  country,  whose  meat  and  drink 
it  seems  indeed  to  be,  to  do  the  will  of  their  Father  who  is  in 
heaven.  Their  zeal,  their  vigilance,  their  labours,  their  munifi- 
cence, astonish  and  humble  me.  The  $40,000,  and  the  eighty 
Bible  Societies  in  eleven  months,  of  which  you  speak,  have 
considerably  raised  my  spirits  and  thankfulness.  My  prayer 
and  hope  are,  that  he  who  hath  so  signally  countenanced  the 
beginning,  will  not  withhold  his  blessing  from  the  progress,  and 
that  the  latter  end  will  greatly  increase.  So  much  remains  to 
be  done,  so  many  and  such  formidable  obstacles  to  be  sur- 
mounted, such  extensive  regions  of  the  shadow  of  death  to  be 
enlightened,  such  vast  expenditure  of  toil  and  treasure  to  be 
encountered,  before  the  habitations  of  cruelty  shall  be  visited 
with  the  word  of  life,  that  there  is  no  room  for  supineness  in 
any  part  of  the  Christian  world ;  nor  for  a  fear  that  exertions 
multiplied  as  far  beyond  those  of  the  present  day,  as  these  ex- 
ceed the  exertions  of  the  days  that  are  past,  will  be  more  than 
equal  to  the  magnitude  of  their  objects,  or  leave  without  ample 


470  EXHILARATING   PROSPECTS? 

employment  any  portion  of  the  stupendous  means  they  shall 
furnish.  Next  to  the  eternal  salvation  of  perishing  men,  one  of 
the  most  exhilarating  prospects  held  out  by  the  cooperation  of 
Christians  from  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  n  a  cause  worthy  of 
their  vocation,  and  in  work  fit  for  their  hands,  is  the  gradual 
preparation  of  the  world  for  the  reign  of  righteousness  in  the 
ages  of  peace.  Accounts  are  pouring  in  here  of  the  effects  of 
diffusing  the  Scriptures  through  pagan  and  papal  lands.  The 
details  you  will  gather  from  the  report  of  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society.  But  I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  one 
or  two  striking  facts. 

Two  Catholic  clergymen  in  Germany,  by  simply  reading  the 
Scriptures,  to  which  their  attention  had  been  lately  drawn,  be- 
came completely  convinced  of  their  errors — without  any  hu- 
man aid  embraced  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel — and  as  they 
believed,  so  they  spake :  No  more  about  merits,  and  masses, 
and  saints'  intercession,  and  the  worship  of  the  Yirgin  Mary, 
and  other  fooleries.  Their  mouths  were  filled  with  that  which 
filled  their  hearts — Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  The  result 
has  been  astonishing.  The  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven 
has  accompanied  their  preaching.  Thousands  crowd  the  places 
where  they  minister — follow  their  steps — hang  upon  their  lips, 
and  receive  the  ingrafted  word  which  is  able  to  save  their  souls ; 
while  the  temples  of  mummery  and  the  priests  of  Mammon  are 
deserted, — as  Pliny  complained  of  old,  the  heathen  temples 
and  their  priests  were  abandoned  for  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  and  the  resurrection.  There  is  also  a  ven- 
erable and  aged  ecclesiastic  in  the  same  country,  who  has  in 
like  manner  embraced  the  precious  faith  once  delivered  to  the 
Saints,  and  is  most  indefatigable  in  disseminating  the  word  of 
God  among  his  fellow  Catholics,  That  word  has  free  course 
and  is  glorified.  The  traders  in  the  souls  of  men,  are  all  aghast; 
the  Jesuits,  sworn  veterans  of  the  Apostasy,  run  to  and  fro,  re- 
sisting,' calumniating,  sounding  the  tocsin  of  "Holy  Koman 
Church."  Cardinals  assemble  in  conclave — they  denounce  the 
second  Luther,  as  they  term  him,  yet  tremble  before  him.  The 
Pope  storms  and  anathematizes.  His  bulls  bellow  loud  and 
long.  But  the  good  old  man  goes  on  unmoved  and  fearless. 
He  has  counted  the  cost ;  is  ready  to  pour  out  his  blood,  if  the 


AT  EDINBURGH   A^B   KELSO.  471 

Master  shall  require  it ;  and  what  is  to  frighten  him  ?  The 
Bible  Society  here,  have  done  themselves  the  honour  and  the 
Gospel  the  service,  to  place  in  the  hands  of  this  Christian  hero 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  circulation  of  50,000  copies  of  the 
New  Testament;  for  no  less  a  quantity  will  satisfy  the  demand. 
There  is  some  wonderful  event  to  follow.  It  seems  to  me  as  if 
the  voice  from  heaven  were  now  calling  upon  all  the  pious  who 
may  remain  in  the  Antichristian  church,  for  perhaps  the  last 
time,  before  the  tempest  of  ruin  descend  from  the  Lord  out  of 
heaven — "Come  out  of  her,  my  people."  There  may  be  an- 
other severance  as  at  the  Eeformation;  and  then — my  flesh 
trembleth  because  of  his  judgments — the  vials  of  exterminating 
vengeance  may  be  discharged  in  quick  succession  !  Then  for 
the  hailstones  and  fire !  Then  for  the  earthquakes  and  famines, 
and  pestilences,  and  for  the  sword  of  the  Lord  drunken  with 
blood!  Be  silent,  O  all  flesh,  before  his  face;  for  he  cometh, 
for  he  cometh,  to  make  inquisition  for  blood ! 

I  had  more  to  write,  but  my  paper  and  my  time  have  run 
out.  Adieu,  my  daughter.  Look  unto  the  Lord  in  all  things ; 
and  believe  that  you  are  very,  very  near  the  heart  of  your 

father, 

'  J.  M.  MASON. 

A  very  brief  notice  of  what  transpired  after  leaving  London, 
is  given  by  Mrs.  Lundie : — 

Dr.  Mason  overtook  Mr.  Bruen  in  the  second  week  of  Sep- 
tember, when  they  spent  a  few  days  in  Edinburgh  together, 
daring  which  time,  they  visited  Professor  Lesley,  Francis 
Jeffrey,  and  Dr.  Brewster,  editor  of  the  Edinburgh  Encyclope- 
dia. They  had  previously  formed  acquaintance  with  the  Rev. 
Sir  Henry  Moncrieff,  Dr.  Chalmers,  Dr.  Hall,  and  most  of  the 
respectable  clergymen  of  various  denominations  in  the  city. 
After  passing  a  short  time  in  those  adieus  which  to  hearts  like 
theirs  are  always  touching,  they  returned  to  Kelso,  where  they 
lingered  together  their  last  days  in  Scotland,— days  fraught 
with  spiritual  improvement,  and  affecting,  because  they  includ- 
ed the  prayers  and  parting  blessings  of  Dr.  Mason,  on  the  family 
whom  he  honoured  with  his  regard."— (Memoirs  of  Rev.  Mat- 
thias Bruen,  p.  28.) 


472  FAREWELL   NOTES. 

In  a  farewell  letter  to  Mr.  Hardcastle,  from  Liverpool,  dated 
Sept.  29tb,  Dr.  Mason  remarks  :  "I  have  to  be  ver}'-  thankful 
for  the  regular  improvement  of  my  health.  Within  the  last 
eight  days  especially  I  am  sensible  of  a  favourable  alteration. 
You  will  perceive  that  I  have  gained  strength,  if  not  discretion, 
since  I  left  you,  from  my  preaching  last  evening  at  2000  or 
more  Liverpoolians  for  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes,  besides 
forty  minutes  of  other  services  without  any  particular  incon- 
venience. 

"  Wind  and  weather  permitting,  we  sail  to-morrow.  The  ship 
is  fine.  She  is  the  Minerva^  Capt.  Sketchley  ;  her  commander 
skilful  and  courteous  ;  the  company  desirable. 

"In  leaving  England  my  mind  is  filled  with  a  mixture  of 
pleasing  and  of  painful  emotions.  lean  never  forget  the  dis- 
tinguished kindness  which  I  have  experienced,  nor  cease  to 
regret  that  there  is  little  probability  of  my  paying  another  visit 
to  this  land  of  Christian  enterprise  and  friendship.  Among 
the  dearest  recollections  of  my  life  will  be  those  which  trans- 
port me  to  Hatcham  House,  I  would  say  something  if  I  could 
to  convey  anything  like  an  expression  of  my  feelings,  but  I  am 
overpowered.  The  day  approaches  when  there  will  be  no  more 
separations,  and  no  more  weaknesses." 

Mr.  Bruen  was  left  in  England,  and  a  day  or  two  before  Dr. 
Mason  embarked  at  Liverpool,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving 
a  parting  note  from  his  young  friend : — 

Cambridge,  Sept.  27th,  1817. 

My  Very  Dear  Friend  : — Though  my  spirits  at  Newcastle 
were  not  in  a  state  easily  to  endure  the  form  of  saying  farewell, 
yet  I  cannot  forbear  troubling  you  with  a  few  lines  before  you 
leave  the  Island,  to  tell  you  how  sincerely  I  now  am  and  ever 
shall  be  grateful,  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  enjoy  so  much 
of  your  society.  It  has  been  one  of  those  occurrences  in  my 
life,  upon  which  my  heart,  as  well  as  my  understanding,  will 
ever  dwell  with  delight.  Since  you  have  seen  me  so  undisguis- 
edly,  I  can  only  admire  your  forbearance  in  respect  to  the  bad 
points  of  my  character,  and  would  turn  this  forbearance  into 
a  strong  argument  for  their  correction. 

Farewell  then,  and  may  you  be  speedily  carried  back   with 


MR.  Duncan's  anxious  feelings,  473 

renewed  strength  to  the  scene  of  your  labours  of  faith  and  love 
and  hope  !  and  I  would  with  all  anxiety  ask  for  such  a  share  in 
your  prayers,  as  you  know  the  multitude  and  magnitude  of  the 
dangerous  temptations  through  which  I  must  pass,  require. 
Especially  your  parting  injunction  at  Edinburgh,  would  I  obey: 
"  to  endure  as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible."  If  at  any  time 
you  could  spare  me  a  few  minutes  to  give  me  a  word  of  coun- 
sel, or  encouragement,  or  warning,  I  cannot  express  to  you  how 
gratefully  it  would  be  received.  I  bid  adieu  to  one  whose  so- 
ciety has  cheered  me  in  many  a  dreary  hour,  when  far  removed 
from  the  possibility  of  Christian  intercourse  ;  to  one  whose  in- 
structions, if  ever  I  should  be  honoured  with  the  office  of  the 
ministry,  have  been  invaluable  ;  to  such  an  one,  saying  adieu, 
I  turn  my  face  toward  the  multitudes  of  men  with  whom  I  can 
have  but  little  community  of  feeling.  But  I  will  not  fatigue 
your  patience  with  the  tedious  expression  of  my  feelings,  and 
will  only  in  so  many  words  ask  for  your  prayers  and  say  fare- 
well. 

I  came  from  Lincoln  by  Newark  and  Stamford  to  this  place, 
where  I  arrived  this  evening.  I  expect  to  get  into  London  on 
Monday,  Do  me  the  favour  to  remember  me  kindly  to  Eben- 
ezer,  I  rejoice  that  he  returns  home  with  a  heart  as  well  as 
head  so  much  improved,  improved  as  we  may  hope  by  the  best 
of  all  agencies. 

With  most  sincere  affectionate  respects, 
As  ever,  yours, 

M.  BRUEN. 

Naturally  sanguine,  Dr.  Mason  returned  home  with  more 
hope  of  restoration  to  robust  health,  than  was  felt  by  some  of  his 
friends.  Mr.  Duncan,  in  a  letter  of  December  2, 1817,  gives  utter- 
ance to  his  anxieties  on  the  subject,  viewed  in  connexion  with 
public  interests  of  the  first  importance :  "  The  enemy  not  only 
prowls  on  our  borders  and  razes  some  feeble  fortresses ;  but  he 
seems  to  have  gained  our  heights  and  to  threaten  our  citadel 
itself  You  know  my  allusions,  and  I  can  well  conceive  the 
feelings  that,  on  your  return,  our  sorrows  would  kindle  in  your 
bosom.  Applying  my  principle,  and  judging  of  the  mercies 
which  yet  remain,  I  turn  my  eye  to  you  with  no  small  share  of 


474  PEOPOSES  A   PLAN. 

agitated  feeling.  Your  life  is  precious;  and  I  think  it  the 
duty  of  every  lover  of  our  Zion  to  try  and  adopt  some  plan 
which  shall  secure  your  greater  usefulness,  without  making 
any  serious  inroad  upon  your  health.  Your  constitution  when 
in  full  vigour  could  not  sustain  the  heavy  pressure  of  your 
numerous  duties.  And  now  when  so  much  enfeebled,  what 
are  we  naturally  to  expect  ?  I  have  observed  that  preaching 
is  exhausting.  For  years  I  have  silently  noticed  its  effects 
upon  you ;  and  I  do  seriously  believe  that  you  will  now  find  it 
still  more  injurious.  I  have  no  less  a  plan  in  view  than  that 
you  should  give  it  up,  excepting  occasionally,  for  your  own 
enjoyment  and  the  good  of  the  students.  I  should  condemn 
my  plan  as  idle  and  foolish,  if  I  did  not  know  that  a  greater 
sphere  of  usefulness  is  open  to  you.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  you 
were  warned  off,  to  devote  your  attention  exclusively  to  the 
Seminary.  The  state  of  your  health  is,  to  my  view,  a  provi- 
dential intimation,  that  you  are  no  longer  able  to  fill  the  double 
of&ce  of  Pastor  and  Professor ;  and  that  you  should  devote 
yourself  wholly  to  the  latter." 


CHAPTEE  XXXVII. 

1818. 

MISSION    TO    thp:   western   churches. 

LETTERS. 

Meeting  of  the  Synod— Deputation  to  Kentucky— Letter  to  Mr.  E.  Mason,  Edin- 
burgh—Letter to  Dr.  Chalmers— Letter  from  Dr.  Chalmers— Letter  to  Mr. 
Hardcastle— Letter  to  Mrs.  H.— Letter  from  Dr.  Waugh— Letter  to  Mrs.  Mason 
— Letter  from  the  Rev.  John  T.  Pressley. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod,  May,  1818,  the  Presby- 
tery of  New  York  reported: — 

'•'  It  is  with  joy  and  gratitude,  the  Presbytery  have  it  in  their 
power  to  state,  that  Dr.  Mason,  who  had  gone  to  Europe  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health,  returned  in  November  last,  and  has 
since  been  able  to  attend  partially  to  his  public  duties." 

The  Superintendents  reported  the  names  of  twenty-one  stu- 
dents in  the  Seminary.  They  also  reported,  that,  "  the  principal 
Professor,  on  account  of  the  delicate  state  of  his  health,  was  able 
last  winter,  to  lecture  only  on  Systematic  Theology  ;  but  the 
Superintendents  cherish  the  hope,  that  his  strength  will  be  so  far 
restored,  as  to  enable  him,  during  the  next  session,  to  attend  to 
all  the  branches  of  instruction  belonging  to  his  department." 

At  the  same  meeting,  Dr.  Mason,  Mr.  Forest,  and  Mr.  Dickey, 
were  appointed  a  "  Committee  to  revise  the  Book  of  Disci- 
pline, and  the  Appendices  thereunto." 

Difficulties  of  long  standing  existing  in  the  Presbytery  of 
Kentucky,  which  it  seemed  impossible  to  settle  by  ordinary 
modes  of  adjudication,  the  Synod  thought  it  necessary  to  ap- 
point a  Special  Commission  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  an 
adj  ustment. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Dickey,  seconded  by  Mr.  McFarland,  it  was 


476  MEASURES   OF  THE   SYNOD. 

resolved,  that  Dr.  Mason,  Messrs.  Dickey  and  Lind,  Ministers ; 
and  Messrs.  Silas  E.  Weir,  John  Kennedy,  and  Jeremiah  Mor- 
ran.  Elders,  "  be  appointed  Commissioners  to  repair  to  the 
bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Scioto,  and  especially  to  the  Presby- 
tery of  Kentucky,  to  take  cognizance  of  the  state  of  the 
churches  under  the  care  of  said  Synod,  and  in  a  particular  man" 
ner  of  all  the  matters  in  dispute  between  the  Eev.  Adam  .Ean' 
kin  and  the  Eev.  Eobert  H.  Bishop ;  to  receive  testimony  and 
to  perform  all  such  things  and  acts  relative  thereto  as  may  be 
necessary  for  a  final  decision  thereon ;  which  decision  they  are 
hereby  empowered  and  directed  to  make ;  and  to  report  their 
proceedings  in  the  whole  of  the  premises  to  this  Synod  at  its 
next  meeting." 

It  was  also  resolved  that  "  any  of  the  parties  have  the  right 
to  appeal  from  the  said  decision  to  the  next  meeting  of  this 
Synod ;  and  that  of  this  appeal  they  signify  their  intention  in 
writing  to  the  said  Commissioners  within  two  days." 

His  earnest  application  to  the  business  of  the  Synod  appears 
from  an  elaborate  report  on  the  affairs  of  the  western  churches. 
The  Synod  of  Scioto  had  sent  up  a  paper  complaining  about 
various  transactions,  and  proposing  either  to  fix  the  meetings 
of  the  General  Synod  at  Pittsburgh,  or  to  organize  the  churches 
of  their  denomination  into  three  independent  bodies.  This 
paper  was  referred  to  a  Committee,  of  which  Dr.  Mason  was 
chairman.  On  the  28th  May  he  presented  a  very  able  review 
of  the  whole  subject,  concluding  with  two  resolutions  adverse 
to  the  application.  These  resolutions  were  unanimously 
adopted.  The  whole  report  was  of  great  interest  at  the  time  j 
but,  covering  ten  closely  printed  pages  of  the  minutes,  is 
too  long  for  insertion  here. 

TO  MR.  EBENEZER  MASON,  EDINBURGH. 

New  York,  March  4,  1818. 
My  Dear  Uncle  :  You  have  long  ago  learned  from  Ebene- 
zer,  our  short  and  pleasant  passage  from  Liverpool,  and  our 
safe  arrival,  with  its  circumstances,  on  the  1st  November.  I 
can  scarcely  believe  the  testimony  of  my  own  consciousness 
and  memory,  to  the  variety  of  places  I  have  visited,  objects  I 
have  observed,  scenes  I  have  witnessed,  and  feelings  I  have  ex- 


FAMILY  INTELLIGENCE.  477 

perienced,  within  tlie  last  eighteen  months.  I  seem  to  have 
awaked  out  of  a  busy  dream,  and  occasionally  almost  doubt 
whether  I  am  not  yet  asleep.  But  it  is  all  true.  "  The  fashion 
of  this  world  passeth  away;"  and  that  swiftly.  However  it 
may  seem  to  linger  when  our  eye  is  arrested  by  a  succession  of 
things  new  and  distinct,  it  still  urges  on  its  course ;  and  we  go 
with  it.  Among  the  matters  which  sensibly  touched  me  on 
my  return,  was  the  list  of  ravages,  committed  by  death,  in  the 
circle  of  my  acquaintance  during  my  absence.  About  thirty 
have  come  to  my  knowledge  (and  the  list  is  not  yet  complete)  of 
persons  whom  I  knew,  many  of  them  intimately,  who  were 
removed  in  the  course  of  fifteen  months.  In  this  catalogue,  I 
have  to  number  the  last  of  my  mother's  family.  Aunt  Varick. 
She  died  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  on  her  way  to  Illinois,  with 
her  daughter,  son-in-law,  and  son.  We  have  the  cheering  con- 
solation that  she  "  has  entered  into  rest."  It  is  somewhat  mys- 
terious that  in  her  old  age  she  should  travel  eight  hundred 
miles  to  die ;  and  no  little  solace,  that  at  so  great  a  distance, 
she  should  find  the  only  surviving  daughter  of  her  sister,  and 
expire  in  her  house.  It  was  my  sister  Margaret,  under  whose 
roof  she  sickened,  and  who  closed  her  eyes. 

On  my  arrival  home,  I  was  agreeably  surprised  by  the  sight 
of  a  grand-daughter^  of  whose  appearance,  and  of  my  own  promo- 
tion to  the  venerable  rank  of  the  grands^  I  had  not  heard.  I 
like  it  better,  however,  than  a  commission,  even  with  a  "  grand 
cordon,"  in  the  "  Legion  dlionneur .^''  Catharine  is  very  well 
and  very  happy,  enraptured  with  the  unparalleled  progress  and 
excellence  of  the  "finest  child  in  the  world,"  who  already  can 
stand  alone  with  the  help  of  a  chair  !  ! 

Euphemia,  who  loses  none  of  her  superiorit}'  or  interest,  is 
shortly  to  be  united  to  one  of  my  pupils,  a  minister  of  the  Dutch 
Church  in  this  city.  He  bears  the  name  of  a  famous  reformer, 
John  Knox;  and  were  he  a  lineal  descendant  from  that  great 
man,  would  not  shame  his  blood.  The  fire  of  the  Scottish  Eli- 
jah he  has  not;  for  he  has  not  so  many  bad  materials  to  burn 
up ;  but  is  much  respected  for  his  piety,  good  sense,  sound  doc- 
trine, and  calm  intrepidity  in  the  work  of  the  Lord. 

My  own  health  is  by  no  means  confirmed.  I  preach  twice 
every  Sabbath,  and  meet  my  students  only  once  a  week,  which 


478  AN   EXPLANATION". 

however  is  equal  to  two  sermons  more.  It  has  been  too  much. 
I  took  a  ride  of  a  month  on  horseback  in  January  and  Febru- 
ary, and  was  in  tlie  saddle  on  our  coldest  day.  when  the  ther- 
mometer was  below  zero.  1  am  better  for  the  exercise,  and 
gain  gradually,  though  troubled  at  times  with  difficulty  of 
breathing.  Shortly  after  I  got  home,  a  numbness  seized  my 
whole  right  arm,  and  especially  my  right  hand.  This  hindered 
almost  entirely  the  use  of  my  pen,  or  I  should  have  written 
sooner.  It  is  greatly  better ;  but  the  effort  of  writing  the  pres- 
ent letter  gives  to  my  fingers  a  sensation  like  the  cramp.  So 
I  can  only  add  the  assurance  of  mj''  love  to  the  family,  and  of 
the  unalterable  affection  of  your 

J.  M.  MASON. 

DR.  M.  TO  DE.  CHALMERS. 

New  York,  April  4,  1818. 

Eeverend  Sir  :  I  have  not  ceased  to  regret  my  disappoint- 
ment in  being  unable  to  cherish  in  Griasgow  the  acquaintance  I 
had  the  happiness  of  forming  with  you  in  London.  The  com- 
mands of  my  physician  detained  me  till  the  middle  of  August ; 
and  thus  nearly  the  whole  time  I  had  allotted  to  excursions 
through  the  Island,  passed  away.  It  was  September  before  I 
reached  Edinburgh;  and  the  very  short  notice  given  me  of  the 
time  of  the  ship's  departure  from  Liverpool,  frustrated  altogether 
my  intended  visit  to  your  city,  and  other  places  in  the  west  of 
Scotland. 

It  will  give  you  pleasure  to  hear  that  correct  principles  on 
the  subject  of  poor-laws  and  pauperism  are  gaining  ground  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic;  and  that  the  favourable  impression  is 
under  no  small  obligation  to  your  pen.  A  society  was  formed 
in  this  place  about  five  weeks  since,  for  the  prevention  of  pau- 
perism. Whatever  auxiliaries  it  may  employ,  its  chief  reliance 
is  upon  the  intellectual  and  moral  cultivation  of  the  poor.  It 
has  to  encounter  manj^  diflSculties,  of  which  one  of  the  most 
formidable  is  the  continual  stream  which  flows  in  upon  our 
population  from  abroad.  Of  this  Society,  the  bearer,  Mr.  John 
Griscom,  is  an  active  member.  He  belongs  to  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  is  a  man  of  respectability,  worth,  and  science. 
As  he  is  anxious  to  be  personally  acquainted  with  you,  I  cheer- 
fully comply  with  his  request  to  put  him  in  the  way  of  enjoy- 


hall's  sermon  on  the  princess  charlotte.       479 

ing  that  gratification,  should  he  have  an  opportunity  of  paying 
his  respects  to  you  in  Glasgow. 

My  health,  though  improved,  is  not  confirmed.  My  public 
labours,  although  greatly  abridged,  are  still  equivalent  to 
preaching  four  times  a  week.  I  find  the  pressure  too  heavy. 
It  retards  my  recovery,  and  keeps  me  feeble.  One  half  of  it 
will  be  thrown  off  in  a  few  days,  when  the  Session  of  our 
Theological  Seminary  closes.  It  recommences  on  the  first  of 
November. 

I  pray  you  to  remember  me  kindly  to  Dr.  Balfour  and  our 
other  friends ;  to  present  me  particularly  to  Mrs.  Chalmers ;  and 
to  be  assured  of  the  high  and  affectionate  esteem  of  your 
obedient  and  faithful 

J.  M.  MASON. 

DR.  CHALMERS  TO  DR.  M. 

Glasgow,  June  20th,  1818. 

My  Dear  Sir:  The  bearer  is  Mr.  John  Duncan,  of  this 
place ;  one  who  belongs  to  the  religious  society  of  the  town  ; 
and  deficient,  I  believe,  neither  in  literature  nor  in  piety.  At 
his  request  I  take  the  liberty  of  introducing  him  to  your 
notice,  and  to  any  such  attentions  as  you  find  it  convenient  to 
bestow. 

It  gave  us  both  great  pain  and  surprise,  that  we  did  not 
meet  you  previous  to  your  departure  from  this  country,  and 
were  also  kept  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  about  your  health  from 
the  opposite  rumours  that  we  heard  respecting  it.  I  trust,  my 
dear  Sir,  that  you  are  now  restored  to  vigour  and  to  active 
usefulness.  I  can  assure  you  that  I  look  back  with  great 
pleasure  on  all  the  intercourse  I  was  favoured  with  during  your 
abode  in  this  country,  and  count  j^our  acquaintance  to  be  a 
great  honour  and  acquisition  to  me. 

There  is  almost  nothing  doino-  here.  I  think  the  most  inter- 
esting  publication  that  has  come  out  of  late,  is  a  sermon  by 
Hall,  your  friend,  on  the  death  of  our  Princess  Charlotte.  I 
shall  ask  Mr.  Duncan  to  take  it  out  with  him,  and  present  it 
to  you. 

May  I  crave  an  interest  in  your  prayers.     I  trust  I  feel  more 


480  PROPOSED  JOURNEY. 

of  the  exclusive  importance  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  my  own  abso- 
lute nothingness  and  worthlessness  in  the  sight  of  God.  I  am 
quite  sure  that  no  acceptable  grace  can  be  formed  in  me,  but 
through  a  channel  bj  which  a  stream  of  influence  might  be 
made  to  pass  from  Christ's  fulness  into  my  empty  and  guilty, 
and  depraved  soul.  O  !  that  this  humility  were  habitual,  and 
that  I  got  an  habitual  experience  of  that  grace  which  Grod 
giveth  to  the  humble ! 

You  woula  oblige  me  much  by  a  letter.  I  should  like 
greatly  to  know  how  you  are ;  and  I  entreat  you  to  believe 
me,  my  dear  Sir,  yours  affectionately, 

THOMAS   CHALMERS. 

TO  JOSEPH  HARDCASTLE,  Esq.,  LONDON. 

New  York,  July  29th,   1818. 

My  Yery  Dear  Friend  :  In  a  few  days  after  my  arrival 
home,  a  numbness  invaded  my  right  hand  and  proceeded  up 
the  arm  to  the  shoulder,  so  as  greatly  to  deaden  the  sensibility, 
and  impair  the  action  of  the  parts  affected.  My  hand  in  par- 
ticular was  so  enfeebled  as  to  render  writing  extremely  painful, 
and  to  bring  a  stiffening  cramp  upon  the  fingers.  This  lasted 
several  weeks,  and  laid  an  almost  perpetual  embargo  upon  my 
pen. 

The  resumption  of  my  public  work  on  the  Lord's  day,  and 
partially  of  my  labours  in  the  Seminary,  produced  no  percepti- 
ble inconvenience  for  some  time ;  but  after  that  the  symptoms 
of  my  complaint  returned  with  considerable  force.  My  health, 
in  consequence,  was  but  infirm  during  the  winter.  It  has, 
however,  wonderfully  recruited  within  the  last  two  months.  I 
have  borne  up  most  unexpectedly  under  the  unusual  heats  of 
our  summer;  have  preached  twice  every  Sabbath  ;  and  still  get 
to  the  windward  of  the  doctors. 

To-morrow  I  set  out,  in  virtue  of  an  appointment  by  our  Gen- 
eral Synod,  on  a  visit  to  our  churches  of  the  West,  as  far  as 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  which  will  cost  me  a  ride  on  horseback 
of  not  less  than  1600  miles.  I  hope  to  have  my  health  perfectly 
restored  by  the  jaunt.  Four  or  five  brethren  accompany  me 
with  a  commission  to  inquire  into,  and  rectify,  some  things 
which  have  gone  sadly  wrong  in  the  West.     You  may  perhaps 


HOMEWARD   VOYAGE.  481 

be  tempted  to  smile  at  the  observation,  that  there  is  no  pre- 
serving the  interests  of  the  Eedeemer's  kingdom  among  us, 
Avithout  a  power  controlling  the  aggregate  concerns  of  His 
church,  as  one  visible  body.  Whatever  may  be  the  case  in 
your  limited  range  and  compact  population — our  churches  here, 
without  a  greater  social  efficiency,  than  the  isolated  form  of  In- 
dependency admits,  would  all  go  to  ruin. 

Through  the  tender  mercy  of  God,  my  flock  increases,  not 
only  in  numbers,  but  also  I  humbly  trust,  in  the  knowledge  and 
experience  of  the  truth. 

Our  American  Bible  Society  goes  on  with  progressive  force. 
The  clamours  of  the  high-churchmen,  serve  the  valuable  pur- 
pose of  keeping  alive  public  attention,  and  of  advertising  the 
growth  and  strength  and  usefulness  of  the  institution. 

I  was  tenderly  touched,  my  dear  friend,  to  hear  that  it  had 
pleased  our  Heavenly  Father  to  visit  you  with  a  paralytic 
stroke.  Well,  there  is  no  curse  in  it.  It  is  still  ix  father's  hand. 
Infinite  thanks  to  his  grace  :  you  are  not  compelled  to  seek 
your  religion,  when  you  need  its  support/  "I  have  long 
known,"  said  Komaine,  "the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  to  be 
truths ;  I  now  find  them  to  be  comforts^  So  do  all  that  love 
him.  And  so,  my  dear  friend,  shall  you  find  it  till  the  end.  A 
little  while,  and  a  new  shout  shall  be  heard  above ;  it  will  be 
Salvation;  and  then  away  to  your  Father  and  your  God.  My 
soul  rejoices  on  your  behalf 

TO  MRS.   HARDCASTLE. 

New  York.  July  29th,  1818. 

My  Dear  Madam:  You  have  probably  heard  that  I  had 
a  charming  passage  home.  It  was  only  twenty-three  days. 
Though  the  sixth  time  of  ray  crossing  the  Atlantic,  it  was  no 
more  memorable  than  the  five  former,  for  anything  like  what 
sailors  call  "  a  gale  of  wind."  We  had  some  pretty  stiff 
'•  blows,"  and  occasionally  a  rough  sea ;  but  to  this  day  I  have 
seen  nothing  which  approaches  the  idea  I  have  framed,  of  the 
terrors  of  the  deep.  Fifteen  gentlemen  made  up  the  company 
of  passengers ;  and  not  an  angry,  profane,  or  disobliging  word 
interrupted  our  comfort.  It  was  a  great  mercy,  and  I  desire  to 
be  thankful  for  it. 
31 


482  AN  ADVENTUKE. 

Mrs.  Mason  and  the  family  were  all  in  health.  The  heavenly 
Keeper,  into  whose  hands  I  had  endeavoured  to  commit  them, 
had  accepted  and  guarded  the  precious  trust.  What  do  I  not 
owe  to  his  condescension  ! 

On  the  11th  of  May,  my  daughter  Euphemia  bade  her 
adieu  to  "single  blessedness,"  I  have  the  happiness  to  see 
her,  like  her  sister,  joined  to  a  partner  who  adorns  the  doctrine 
of  God  his  Saviour.  Mr.  Knox  occupies  a  distinguished  place 
among  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  this  city. 

Shortly  after  their  marriage,  in  a  visit  to  his  relations  in 
Pennsylvania,  they  met  with  an  adventure,  which,  but  for  the 
watchful  providence  of  God,  might  have  filled  my  house  with 
mourning.  They  had  to  cross  a  small  stream,  called  Willough- 
by's  Eun  ;  a  heavy  fall  of  rain  had  swollen  and  discoloured 
the  waters,  but  Mr.  Knox,  being  perfectly  familiar  with  the 
road,  drove  his  gig  fearlessly  along.  The  first  thing  that 
startled  him  was  the  disappearance  of  his  horse  ;  and  the  next 
instant  the  gig  turned  over,  and  precipitated  them  both  into  a 
hole  five  feet  deep.  Mr.  Knox  himself  was  completely  sub- 
merged. Euphemia  slid  upright  into  the  hole,  and  reached 
the  bottom  with  her  feet,  standing  in  muddy  water  up  to  her 
chin.  She  lost  nothing  of  her  composure,  and  they  were  im- 
mediately disengaged,  without  receiving  the  slightest  injury  or 
taking  a  cold.  It  seems  the  neighbours  had  been  digging 
stone,  for  a  stone-fence  (as  we  say)  near  the  margin  of  the 
stream ;  and  the  quarry  being  overflowed,  could  not  be  seen 
on  account  of  the  muddiness  of  the  water.  How  cheering  the 
fact  and  the  faith  of  a  special  Providence  ! 

I  should  wish  to  write  to  all  your  family,  but  I  have  not 
time.  They  will  not,  however,  erase  my  name  from  their  list 
of  friends.     Tender  them  my  affectionate  regards. 

TO  DR.    MASON. 

Salisbury  Place,  London,  July  25th,  1818. 

My  Dear  Brother  :  The  accounts  we  have  received  of  the 
state  of  your  health  greatly  distress  us.  You  are  ver}--  dear  to 
the  friends  of  the  Eedeemer  in  London.  I  am  sure  you  are 
not  forgotten  by  them  at  the  throne  of  our  gracious  Father. 

I  visited  the  good  and  greatly  afflicted  Mr.  Hardcastle  lately. 


A   SABBATH  AT   PITTSBURGH.  483 

He  seemed  to  feel  unhappy  in  not  having  heard  from  you.  A 
letter  would  shed  a  reviving  gleam  over  the  evening  of  his  day. 
Make  the  effort.  He  is  gone  with  his  family  to  East  Bourne  to 
try  if  the  sea  air  will  restore  strength  to  his  relaxed  and  greatly 
enfeebled  frame. 

The  good  young  friend  who  carries  this,  will  tell  you  how 
things  are  in  London.  Farewell  my  dear  friend.  Let  us  look 
upward  and  forward  !     Our  best  days  are  to  come. 

Truly  and  affectionately  yours, 

ALEXANDER  WAUGH. 

On  his  journey  to  the  West  in  compliance  with  his  Synodical 
appointment,  he  spent  the  first  Sabbath  at  Pittsburgh,  in  the 
vicinity  of  which  was  found  much  of  the  dissatisfaction  which 
had  been  expressed  respecting  intercommunion.  The  occasion 
proved  an  interesting  one,  and  must  have  had  a  beneficial 
influence  on  the  surrounding  churches.  A  brief  notice  of  it 
was  taken  in  a  hasty  letter  to 

MRS.    MASON. 

Pittsburgh,  August  15th,  1818. 

My  Dear  Nancy  :  Last  evening,  about  six  o'clock,  brought 
our  company  to  this  place,  "in  good  order  and  well  condi- 
tioned." Through  the  good  providence  of  God,  I  have  not  had 
a  moment's  sickness  since  I  left  home.  The  lime-stone  water 
has  proved  very  innocent ;  but  the  water  of  the  mountains,  con- 
taining both  iron  and  magnesia,  is  somewhat  mischievous.  My 
lodgings  are  at  Mr.'  Page's,  whose  family  is  in  good  health,  ex- 
cepting Mrs.  Page,  who  took  a  cold  and  cough  about  six  months 
ago,  and  retains  it  yet.  I  think  it  rather  ominous.  I  was  some- 
what surprised  to  find  pulmonary  consumptions  both  frequent 
and  rapid  in  these  hilly  regions. 

Mr.  McElroy  is  better,  but  feeble.  He  cannot,  judging  after 
the  manner  of  men,  be  spared.  He  is  undoubtedly  at  the  head 
of  clerical  respectability  in  this  place,  and  a  large  surrounding 
district.  To  morrow  is  his  communion  Sabbath.  Seventy  new 
members  show  the  great  increase  of  his  flock. 

On  Monday  we  propose  to  set  out  between  five  and  six  o'clock 


4:84  VISITS   FRANKFORT. 

in  the  morning,  and  to  breakfast  with  Mr.  Eiddell  ten  miles  off 
It  is  doubtful  whether  we  shall  reach  Chilicothe  next  week : 
it  is  two  hundred  and  ten  miles  distant. 

Though  there  have  been  some  heavy  falls  of  rain  for  a  short 
time  at  intervals,  we  have  uniformly  escaped  them ;  and  have 
enjoyed  upon  the  whole  delightful  weather  and  a  pleasant  jour. 
ney  thus  far.  My  companions  tell  me  that  I  have  visibly  im- 
proved since  I  left  Philadelphia ;  and  I  am  really  encouraged 
to  hope,  that  my  jaunt  may  be  the  means  of  complete 
reestablishment. 

I  cannot,  of  course,  say  anything  more  decisive  than  when 
I  left  home,  about  the  time  of  returning.  I  have  no  news  to 
add ;  and  have  only  to  repeat,  what  I  trust,  is  not  worth  less 
for  being  old,  that  I  am,  as  ever. 

Your  affectionate, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

TO  MRS.    MASON. 

Frankfort,  Sept.  5th,  1818. 

My  Dear  Nancy:  Your  letter  of  the  13th  Aug.  directed  to 
Pittsburgh,  I  found  in  this  place  on  my  arrival  four  days  agO^ 
I  wrote  from  Greencastle.  I  also  wrote  from  Pittsburgh ;  and 
last  week  from  Lexington. 

We  left  Pittsburgh  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  at  half-past 
five  o'clock.  No  accident  of  any  sort  hindered  our  accomplish- 
ing the  weekly  stages  marked  out  at  the  commencement  of  our 
tour.  We  apprised  the  parties  of  our  expectation  of  being  on 
the  ground  on  the  29th ;  and  in  readiness  to  enter  on  their 
business  on  the  31st.  We  accordingly  entered  Lexington  on 
the  evening  of  the  28th ;  and  all  was  prepared  on  our  part  at 
the  appointed  time.  Father  K.  could  not  be  ready  for  some 
days ;  and  Monday,  the  7th  inst,,  was  fixed  to  commence  our  disa- 
greeable investigation.  Having  thus  nearly  a  week's  respite, 
on  Tuesday  morning  last,  Mr.  Lind  and  myself  mounted  our 
horses  and  rode  over  to  Frankfort.  Mr.  Brown  and  sister  were 
to  have  set  out  the  next  morning  to  meet  me  at  Lexington. 

Sister  was  extremely  affected  at  first.  So  many  and  such 
mixed  ideas  and  images  rushed  in  upon  her  mind,  as  nearly  to 
overcome  her.     Soon,  however,  she  recruited,  and  assumed  a 


A  VIEW   OF   KENTUCKY.  485 

degree  of  cheerfulness  unusual  with  her.  She  has  pined  till  she 
has  grown  thinner  than  before  her  marriage.  Her  vivacity  has 
greatly  subsided.  Grief  has  impaired  her  strength  and  fur- 
rowed her  face;  so  that  she  has  the  appearance  of  young  old 
age.  The  loss  of  Euphemia  four  years  ago,  was  a  blow  that 
felled  her.  She  has  never  risen  up  in  vigour  since.  Her  mind 
however  is  calm  and  subdued.  She  is  cheerful ;  but,  through 
this  exterior,  you  can  see  busy  recollection  working  pain.  I 
have  not  ventured  upon  an  allusion  to  her  affliction.  Mr.  B. 
himself  even  to  this  hour,  is  almost  unmanned  by  it.  Whether 
they  will  visit  us  this  season  or  not,  is  yet  undecided,  though  it 
is  not  improbable. 

To  give  you  an  account  of  the  country  and  towns  through 
which  I  have  passed,  would  be  to  indite  a  volume  instead  of  a 
letter.  The  general  face  of  Kentucky  is  extremely  beautifub 
the  undulations  of  surface  precisely  what  could  be  wished,  for 
elegance,  cleanliness,  health  and  agriculture ;  the  improvements) 
beyond  my  calculation  ;  extensive  farms  cleared,  and  free  from 
girdled  trees,  and  even  from  stumps :  vegetation  luxuriant — 
crops  abundant — the  verdure  deep;  good  houses;  cultivation 
generally  rude  ;  the  fences  round  the  mansions,  and  other  con- 
veniences, coarse  : — as  is  natural  from  the  infancy  of  the  settle- 
ments. The  people  are  hospitable.  They  have  no  small  degree 
of  refinement  at  home,  and  none  of  that  barbarian  vulgarity 
abroad,  of  which  we  have  heard  much,  and  I  anticipated 
some.  They  are  very  keen,  sanguine  and  volatile ;  .rather  pug- 
nacious on  matters  of  opinion  and  party ;  and  in  this  view,  very 
impartial  fighters  about  Lexington.  Mr.  M.'s  fame  has,  I  think, 
seen  its  zenith.  His  soar  begins  rather  to  quiver  ;  and  I  should 
be  nothing  surprised,  if  he  winged  before  the  next  frosts  are  out 
of  the  ground.  I  look  for  nothing  else,  but  that,  in  the  language 
of  Tom  Paine,  as  he  has  "gone  up  like  a  rocket,  he  will  come 
down  like  a  stick." 

I  am  to  preach  to-morrow  for  Mr.  Smith  ;  Mr.  Lind  in  the 
afternoon.  On  Monday  we  take  the  saddle  early,  to  plunge 
into  the  muddy  waters  of  Lexington. 

I  learned  from  NifFy  that  you  were  to  leave  home  for  Sche- 
nectady on  the  25th  August;  and  I  address  my  letter  accord- 
ingly.    Tell  the  boys,  that  I  expect  them  to  be  perfectly  obedi- 


486  MR.  pressley's  settlement. 

eut  to  their  preceptor ;    and  that  their  exemplariness  will  add 
greatly  to  my  happiness. 

Your  affectionate 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  nature  of  the  business  transacted  by  the  Commission, 
and  the  mode  of  doing  it,  will  in  due  time  appear  from  the 
report  made  to  the  General  Synod  at  their  next  meeting. 

In  the  mean  time,  things  of  interest  were  interspersed  with 
his  correspondence.  The  first  letter  which  follows,  was  from  a 
former  student,  who  had  excited  high  hopes,  and  never  disap- 
pointed them.  His  sphere  of  action  has  been  a  wide  one,  and 
no  one,  it  is  believed,  questions  the  ability  with  which  it  has 
been  occupied : — 

TO  DR.  MASON. 

Abbeville,  (S.  C.)  July  16,  1818. 

Eev.  and  Dear  Father  :  Deprived  of  the  invaluable  privi- 
lege of  sitting  under  the  sound  of  your  voice,  and  far  separated 
from  you,  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  give  you  some  information 
relative  to  the  situation  in  which  the  Master  has  placed  me. 
I  feel  ashamed  that  I  have  delayed  so  long  to  give  this  small 
testimonial  of  respect  to  one  to  whom  I  am  under  inexpres- 
sible obligations. 

You  have  probably  heard  that  I  accepted  the  call  of  the 
church  over  which  Dr.  Clarke*  was  pastor  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  It  is  also  the  place  of  my  nativity.  In  general,  I  believe, 
it  is  not  best  for  a  minister  to  settle  among  his  kinsmen ;  but 
there  are  exceptions.  I  was  invited  to  other  places,  where  I 
might  have  calculated  upon  more  temporal  comfort ;  but  several 
considerations  induced  me  to  decide  in  favour  of  this.  It  was 
the  largest  vacancy  in  the  United  States  of  which  I  had  any 
knowledge.  The  congregation  seemed  perfectly  unanimous 
and  very  pressing ;  and  had,  as  I  was  informed,  neglected  other 
opportunities  with  a  view  to  me.  The  number  of  youth  in  the 
congregation  was  very  great;  and  the  interests  of  evangelical 
truth  called  for  a  speedy  settlement.     The  disadvantages  of  ray 

«  It  is  believed  that  this  was  the  eccentric,  but  pious,  Dr.  Clarke,  mentioned 
in  our  notice  of  Dr.  Mason,  Senior. 


QUESTIONS  IN   THE   SOUTH,  487 

situation,  however,  are  numerous.  Society  is  not  very  intelli- 
gent, nor  refined,  I  am  almost  entirely  cut  off  from  intercourse 
with  my  brethren  ;  am  far  from  the  centre  of  our  church ;  and 
farthest  from  that  section  to  which  I  feel  most  attached.  Ac- 
cess to  sources  of  information  is  very  difficult,  so  that  I  have 
almost  no  knowledge  of  events  which  are  taking  place  in  either 
the  ecclesiastical  or  political  world. 

I  have  some  trouble  occasionally  with  eottremely  good  people, 
who  have  great  attachment  to  what  they  term  the  "  good  old 
way ;"  but  which  might  as  fitly  be  called  "  the  traditions  of  the 
elders."  There  are  three  bones  of  contention,  which  have  already 
been  often  picked,  but  yet  are  n"ot  likely  to  be  laid  aside  till 
some  of  our  fathers  are  removed  to  the  land  of  silence,  viz.. 
Is  it  lawful  to  omit  the  observance  of  a  fast  preparatory  to  the 
Lord's  Supper  ?  Is  it  Scriptural  to  extend  our  Christian  fellow- 
ship beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  church  ?  Is  it  right  to  use 
any  other  than  a  literal  version  of  David's  Psalms  in  public 
praise  to  God  ? 

When  I  inform  you  that  it  has  been  customary  on  Sacra- 
mental occasions,  to  hear  those  anathematized  who  would  dare 
to  believe  the  affirmative  on  either  of  these  points,  you  will  be 
prepared  to  understand  somewhat  of  the  spirit  which  we  have  to 
meet.  A  large  portion  of  this  congregation,  however,  have 
searched  the  Scriptures,  and  think  rationally  on  these  subjects. 
Some  time  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  I  commenced  an  expo- 
sition of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  not  with  any  intention  to 
enter  upon  controversial  points,  but  because  that  epistle  abounds 
with  rich  Gospel  truth,  in  the  first  place  clearly  established,  and 
then  applied  to  practice.  I  soon  found  that  the  principle  of  the 
church's  unity  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  doctrinal 
part.  This  admitted,  the  doctrine  of  Catholic  communion 
seemed  to  be  an  irresistible  consequence ;  and  therefore  I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  utter  it.  Whether  I  shall  remain  long 
here  at  present,  seems  doubtfal.  I  think  my  feeble  labours  are 
not  altogether  in  vain,  nor  yet  wholly  unacceptable  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  church.  Some  of  our  brethren  talk  of  a  separation. 
I  have  endeavoured  to  remonstrate  against  it,  and  I  believe  not 
altogether  in  vain.  I  have  urged  them  to  send  a  representa- 
tion to  the  General  Synod,  but  to  no  purpose. 


488  SYNOD   OF   SCIOTO. 

I  am  anxious  to  know  the  real  state  of  your  health,  and  the 
situation  of  the  Seminary.  It  is  uncertain  whether  I  shall  ever 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  the  body.  For  your  kind 
attention  while  under  your  care,  for  your  invaluable  instruc- 
tion, tender  admonition  and  pious  counsel,  please  to  accept  my 
unfeigned  thanks  ;  and  may  God  give  you  that  reward  which 
man  cannot.  Brothers  Lowry  and  Strong  are  much  respected, 
and  there  are  not  wanting  pleasing  evidences  of  success  in 
their  labours.  May  you  ever  enjoy  much  of  the  Master's 
presence  ! 

J.  T.  PRESSLEY. 

The  Western  Churches  were  still  less  likely  to  settle  down  in 
peace.  The  Eev.  John  McFarland,  under  date  of  November  2, 
1818,  wrote :  "  At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  [of  Scioio]  we 
had  much  altercation  on  grievances — the  old  subjects — and 
some  plans  proposed.  Mr.  E.  was  very  bitter  and  irritating ; 
and  a  majority  breathed  the  same  spirit.  They  passed  two 
acts :  one,  prohibiting  the  licensure  and  ordination  of  any  who 
maintain  and  practice  as  you  in  the  East  do  respecting 
psalmody  and  communion;  and  another,  submitting  to  the 
Presbyteries  of  the  Scioto  Synod,  the  question  of  declaring 
themselves  independent.  I  am  of  opinion  that  it  will  be  done 
at  the  next  meeting." 


CHAPTEK   XXXVIII 


WKSTERN    CHURCHES.      THE    SEMINARY- 
LETTERS. 

Report  of  the  Commission — Communication  from  the  Professor — The  Life  of 
Hamilton— Letter  from  Dr.  Chalmers— Letter  to  Mr.  James  H.  Mason— Letter 
to  Mr.  Erskine  Mason— Letter  to  Mr.  Isaac  Barrel— Letter  to  the  Rev.  J.  Lind 
—Letter  from  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Duncan— Letter  to  Dr.  Chalmers— Letter  to  the 
Rev.  J.  V.  v.— Letter  from  Dr.  C.  Malan,  Geneva. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  in  May,  1819,  the  Com- 
missioners appointed  the  year  before  to  visit  the  Western 
Churches,  presented  their  report,  which  (omitting  the  parts 
relating  to  a  case  which  was  dismissed)  is  as  follows : — 

The  Commissioners  appointed  to  visit  the  Synod  of  Scioto, 
and  especially  the  Presbytery  of  Kentucky,  &c.,  respectfully 
report : 

That  Dr.  J.  M.  Mason,  Rev.  E.  Dickey,  Rev.  J.  Lind,  and  S. 
E.  Weir,  Esq.,  in  obedience  to  the  appointment  of  Synod,  ren- 
dezvoused at  Greencastle,  in  Pennsylvania,  on  their  way  to 
Kentucky,  in  the  early  part  of  August,  1818.  Mr.  J.  Kennedy, 
one  of  their  colleagues,  was  hindered  by  unavoidable  circum- 
stances from  accompanying  them,  and  they  proceeded  without 
him  to  the  place  of  their  destination.  On  their  arrival  at 
Pittsburgh,  they  transmitted  by  mail  to  Messrs.  Rankin,  and 
Bishop,  notice  of  their  approach,  requesting  them  to  be  in 
readiness  on  the  29th  August.  They  also  advised  the  Hon- 
Jeremiah  Morrow,  their  remaining  colleague,  of  the  time  when 
they  expected  to  be  in  Lexington. 

This  place  they  reached  on  the  evening  of  Friday,  the  28th 
August.  Mr.  Morrow  was  not  there,  nor  did  the  other  Com- 
missioners hear  anything  from  him  till  a  late  period.     They 


490  REPORT   OF  COMMISSIOKERS. 

were  then  informed,  by  a  letter  from  himself,  that  he  did  not 
receive  the  proper  notice  in  season,  and  that  a  severe  fit  of 
sickness  had  disqualified  him  for  timely  attendance,  but  that  he 
was  still  ready  to  repair  to  Lexington,  if  his  services  could  be 
of  use.  The  Commissioners,  considering  the  advanced  stage  of 
their  progress,  and  the  improbability  of  Mr,  Morrow's  being 
able  to  join  them  before  they  should  conclude,  did  not  think  it 
advisable  to  subject  him  to  the  trouble  of  a  journey ;  and  di- 
rected their  chairman  to  apprise  him  thereof. 

On  the  29th  of  August  they  entered  upon  the  task  assigned 
to  them ;  and  viewing  Mr.  Bishop  as  Mr.  Eankin's  accuser, 
ordered  him  to  furnish  them  with  a  regular  accusation,  embrac- 
ing the  points  on  which  he  had  published  charges  against  Mr. 
Rankin. 

This  was  done  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  with  speci- 
fications, and  references  to  witnesses. 

The  commissioners  then  directed  that  the  said  paper  of  accu- 
sation be  put  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Rankin,  and  adjourned. 

On  Monday  thereafter,  the  31st  of  August,  the  Commission- 
ers appointed  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Dickey  and  Lind  to  wait  upon 
Mr.  Rankin  and  to  inquire  when  he  would  be  ready  for  trial. 

They  reported  from  Mr,  Rankin,  that  he  would  be  ready 
that  day  eight  days,  viz.,  on  Monday,  the  7th  of  September,  at 
three  o'clock,  p.m.  ;  and  the  Commission  adjourned  to  meet 
at  that  time  in  Zion  Church. 

They  met  accordingly,  and  their  Commission  from  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  was  read  by  S.  E.  Weir,  Esq.,  their  Clerk.  The 
Rev.  Robert  H.  Bishop,  and  the  Rev.  Adam  Rankin  were  then 
called.  Mr.  Bishop  answered  to  his  name.  On  behalf  of  Mr- 
Rankin,  a  paper  was  presented  by  the  Rev.  William  Rainey 
being  a  protest  against  the  authority  of  the  Commission;  which 
after  consideration,  was  set  aside  as  irrelevant. 

Mr.  Rankin  having  appeared,  the  charges  exhibited  against 
him  by  Mr.  Bishop  were  read  to  him  by  the  Clerk ;  and  being 
called  upon  to  answer,  pleaded,  that  he  was  not  ready,  and 
craved  time  until  the  next  morning,  to  offer  another  paper 
which  was  in  forwardness  but  not  finished.  His  request  was 
granted  and  the  Commission  adjourned. 

At  their  meeting  on  the  following  day,  Mr.  Rankin  presented 


STATE   OF   WESTERN   CHURCHES.  491 

to  them  a  paper,  repeating  his  protest  against  their  authority, 
and  purporting  to  be  a  declinature  of  all  further  connexion 
with  the  General  Synod,  as  a  body. 

This  declinature  was  unanimously  decided  to  be  unwarrant- 
able, and  the  trial  was  ordered  to  proceed. 

Mr.  Bishop  having  been  heard  on  Friday,  the  11th,  on  the 
testimony  in  support  of  his  charges  against  Mr.  Eankin,  was 
called  upon  to  account  for  his  own  conduct  in  his  mode  of  pub- 
lishing those  charges ;  and  testimony  was  heard  in  his  defence. 

On  Tuesday  the  whole  trial  was  closed ;  and  on  Thursday 
morning  the  commission  pronounced  their  judgment,  which  is 
annexed. 

On  the  general  circumstances  of  the  churches,  the  commission 
regret  that  their  time  renders  it  impracticable  to  obtain  such 
knowledge  as  might  answer  the  expectation  of  the  General  Sy- 
nod. They  are  enabled,  however,  to  state,  with  considerable 
confidence,  that  the  affairs  of  this  church  in  Kentucky  are  low 
indeed ;  and  that  her  future  prospects  must  rest  chiefly  upon 
new  acquisitions.  They  are  compelled  to  attribute  this  result 
to  the  power  of  an  improper  feeling  pervading  the  Presbytery 
of  Kentucky ;  to  keen  litigation,  created  by  personal  and  infe- 
rior matters ;  to  the  withering  influence  of  a  cold,  formal,  and 
proud  profession,  and  the  lamentable  decline  of  personal  and 
family  religion.  Yet  the  case  is  not  hopeless ;  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  under  an  increase  of  faithful  ministrations,  her 
"  wilderness  would  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose."  The  com- 
mission earnestly  wish  that  it  may  be  in  the  power  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  to  send  out  some  eificient  help,  especially  as  that 
fine  country,  beautiful  as  "the  garden  of  God,"  is  desolated  by 
various  forms  of  error  and  fanaticism,  which,  speaking  after  the 
manner  of  man,  could  not  stand  before  a  ministry  that  rightly 
"  divides  the  word  of  truth,"  and  instead  of  wasting  itself  upon 
things  which  "  minister  questions,  rather  than  godly  edifying," 
knows  how  to  reserve  its  strength  and  zeal  for  the  substantial 
interests  of  the  Redeemer's  glory. 

Their  impressions  with  respect  to  Ohio  and  the  western  parts 
of  Pennsylvania,  are  of  a  more  encouraging  sort.  The  face  of 
the  churches  is  fairer  ;  the  preaching  of  the  Word  more  success- 
ful ;  personal  and  domestic  godliness  better  maintained.     They 


492  STATE   OF  WESTERN   CHURCHES. 

had  the  satisfaction  to  learn  of  Mr.  Porter's  congregation,  that 
there  is  scarcely  a  family  within  his  charge  where  the  morning 
and  evening  sacrifice  is  not  regularly  offered.  They  specify 
this  case,  because  it  is  the  only  one  of  which  they  happened 
to  obtain  precise  and  authentic  information.  Of  other  congre- 
gations their  accounts  were  good,  though  less  direct  and  ample. 

Yet  it  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  much  hurtful,  and  some  intem- 
perate disquisition,  on  the  questions  about  psalmody  and  com- 
munion, have,  in  the  Presbyteries  of  Ohio  and  Monongahela, 
soured  and  severed  the  minds  of  brethren  who  hold  the  com- 
mon faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  its  purity.  The  commission 
deplore  that  the  conciliatory  injunctions  of  this  Synod,  recom- 
mending forbearance  in  the  premises,  appear  to  have  been  very 
little  regarded  by  either  of  the  Presbyteries ;  and  that  public 
fame  reports  the  adoption  of  measures  on  their  part  which  do 
not  well  comport  with  their  relations  to  this  church. 

The  commission  are  of  opinion  that  it  would  much  conduce 
to  harmon}^,  efficiency,  and  the  most  precious  spiritual  interests 
of  that  section  of  the  body,  were  a  new  Presbytery  to  be  erect- 
ed. The  actual  Presbytery  of  Monongahela  is  numerous,  and 
spread  over  a  great  extent  of  country.  From  the  Monongahela 
to  Lake  Erie,  is  a  territory  sufficiently  large  for  the  operations 
of  one  Presbytery.  It  has  the  advantage  of  a  range  of  posts, 
in  a  number  of  country  towns,  which  will  become  very  speedily 
centres  of  new  erections ;  several  promising  young  vacancies, 
which  require  to  be  assiduously  cherished ;  and  will  in  all  prob- 
ability be  soon  lost  without  it,  and  the  ministers  who  are 
already  settled  there,  can  combine  their  efforts  much  more 
comfortably  than  under  the  present  organization. 

The  commission  observe,  throughout  the  whole  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Ohio,  in  so  far  as  traversed  by  them,  an  urgent  anxi- 
ety to  be  supplied  with  ministrations  by  this  Synod,  a  disposi- 
tion to  quietness  which  they  hardly  anticipated,  and  enough  to 
convince  them  that  nothing  is  necessary  but  moderation  and 
prudence  in  their  brethren  of  the  ministry,  to  settle  down  the 
mass  "of  our  ecclesiastical  population  in  gracious  unity  and 
peace.  Let  love,  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  be  duly  cultivated, 
and  the  commission  are  cheered  with  the  hope  that  "the  work 
of  the  Lord  will  appear  unto  His  servants,  and  His  glory  unto 


THOROUGHNESS  NOT   TO   BE   RELAXED.  493 

their  children ;  that  the  beaut}^  of  Jehovah  our  God  will  be 
upon  us;  and  that  He  will  establish  the  work  of  our  hands 
upon  us ;  yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  will  be  established." 
All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 


Philadelphia,  May  26,  1819. 


J.  M.  MASON, 
EBENEZER   DICKEY, 
JOHN  LIND. 
SILAS   E.  WEIE, 


Commissoners. 


To  this  report  was  annexed  the  judgment  of  the  Commis- 
sioners. This  judgment  was  drawn  up  at  length  with  great 
clearness  and  ability,  embracing  not  only  the  decision,  but  the 
reasons  of  it,  and  full  answers  to  such  objections  as  had  been 
offered  to  the  regularity  and  propriety  of  the  Synod's  appoint- 
ment, as  well  as  the  procedure  under  it. 

At  the  same  meeting,  Dr.  Mason  sent  to  the  Synod  a  com- 
munication reiterating,  confirming  and  perfecting  views  before 
expressed,  and  adapting  them  to  present  circumstances :  It  is 
evident  that  amidst  declining  health,  he  clung  with  parental 
fondness  to  the  Seminary,  and  that  with  his  last  energies  he 
laboured  to  raise  and  sustain  the  standard  of  preparation  for  the 
sacred  ofl&ce. 

To  the  Moderator  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church. 

Eeverend  Sir  :  The  experience  and  observation  of  fourteen 
years  embolden  me  to  ask  the  attention  of  the  General  Synod 
to  a  few  remarks  on  the  subject  of  their  Theological  Seminary. 

The  faculties  which  the  Christian  ministry  requires  to  be  de- 
veloped ;  the  range  of  materials  which  it  embraces ;  their  vari- 
ous applications,  and  the  readiness  in  which  they  ought  always 
to  be  found  for  instant  use ;  besides,  the  responsibility  of  an 
ambassador  of  God,  present  a  vocation  appalling  to  even  a  res- 
olute spirit,  and  grievously  mistaken  by  those  who  disparage 
the  labours  and  acquisition  preparatory  to  its  efficient  exercise. 

The  popular  error  on  this  head,  and  the  tendency  of  things 
to  fill  the  American  churches  with  a  flippant  and  barren  min- 
istry, have  been  perceived  by  the  Synod,  and  stamped  on  the 
principal  features  of  their  plan  of  theological  education. 


494  MORE   TEACHERS   NEEDED. 

It  is  very  respectfully  urged  on  the  Synod  not  so  far  to  yield 
to  clamorous  circumstances  as  in  the  slightest  degree  to  relax 
their  system,  although  it  may  not  hitherto  have  been  duly  ex- 
ecuted, but  to  rouse  all  their  vigour  in  prosecuting  the  means 
necessary  to  insure  its  execution. 

The  work  to  be  performed  in  their  Seminary  is  too  arduous 
for  the  professional  talent  hitherto  employed  ;  an  acknowledg- 
ment made,  not  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  work,  but  of 
impressing  upon  our  churches  the  importance  of  more  work- 
men. 

The  following  departments  in  the  Seminary  appear  indis- 
pensable. 

1.  A  department  for  the  original  Greek  and  Hebrew  lan- 
guages. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  this  point.  Every  minister  of 
sense  and  reflection,  whether  he  be  well  versed  in  them  or  not, 
feels  it  every  day  of  his  life.  He  feels  that  no  man  can  trust 
himself  as  a  safe  expositor  throughout,  who  is  ignorant  of  them. 
A  smattering  knowledge  is  seldom  better,  and  sometimes  worse, 
than  none  at  all.  And  it  is  much  to  be  deplored,  that  the  su- 
perficial character  of  education  in  the  United  States,  sends 
youth  to  our  Seminary  for  the  most  part  uninitiated  in 
the  first  principles  of  the  Greek  tongue.  The  consequence  is, 
that  their  teacher  must  turn  schoolmaster,  and  their  own  time 
spent  in  learning  rudiments  and  words,  when  it  ought  to  be 
employed  in  a  critical  investigation  of  the  genius  of  the  language 
itself.  No  method  of  meeting  such  a  difficulty  at  the  threshold 
has  occurred,  but  that  of  a  preliminary  season  for  the  exclusive 
study  of  the  originals,  before  entering  on  the  theological  course. 

This  department,  along  with  Scriptural  antiquities,  in  so 
flir  as  reference  to  them  is  necessary  for  illustrating  its  phrase- 
ology, needs  one  professor.  But  as  there  is  little  new  in  it  after 
a  man  has  once  become  versed  in  it,  it  is  not  incompatible  with 
some  other  public  engagement ;  and  the  expense  will  of  course 
be  less. 

2.  A  department  for  Biblical  literature,  embracing  separately 
the  subjects  treated  of  in  the  Bible. 

Here  is,  in  reality,  the  main  field  of  instruction.  Its  rich- 
ness, amplitude,  variety,  novelty  (for  what  student  of  the  Bible 


TEACHERS  NEEDED.  495 

does  not  constantly  find  in  it  something  new  ?),  put  into  requi- 
sition all  the  talents,  all  the  learning,  all  the  skill,  of  the  pre- 
ceptor ;  and  all  the  courage,  curiosity,  effort,  patience,  and 
perseverence,  of  the  pupil.  It  keeps  both  at  unintermitted 
labour.  If  properly  conducted,  the  teacher  has  a  task  always 
to  begin  ;  for  he  must  adapt  himself  to  the  different  orders  of 
minds,  as  they  succeed  each  other,  under  his  inspection.  It  is 
altogether  unlike  the  process  of  mere  lecturing,  which  it 
infinitely  surpasses,  and  almost  entirely  excludes.  From  the 
pressure  which  it  lays  upon  the  instructor,  it  will  never 
become  fashionable ;  but  it  is  the  life  blood  of  your  sys- 
tem, and  that  which  forms,  and  if  duly  kept  up,  is  destined  to 
form,  its  peculiar  characteristic;  of  which  the  unassuming,  but 
unutterable  value,  can  only  be  gradually  unfolded  in  your 
growing  ministry. 

This  department  requires  the  whole  time  and  labour  of  one 
Professor;  who  ought  to  be  entirely  and  liberally  supported 
by  the  Seminary. 

8.  A  department  of  systematic  and  polemic  Theology.  A 
much  less  difficult  occupation  than  the  other;  although  they 
ought  to  have  a  mutual  understanding,  and  yield  to  each  other, 
a  mutual  support.  It  may  be  easily  connected  with  a  congre- 
gational charge. 

4.  A  department  for  composition  and  delivery  of  sermons. 
Here  the  discourses  of  the  students  are  to  be  critically  review- 
ed, with  a  special  reference  to  the  accuracy,  simplicity,  purity, 
and  perspicuity  of  their  style.  They  are  to  be  trained  to  a  just 
and  natural  mode  of  pulpit  utterance ;  avoiding  all  affectation  ; 
all  the  artificial  precepts  of  the  schools,  which  tend  to  form 
rhetoricians,  but  not  orators,  especially  Christian  orators ;  all 
coarseness,  clumsiness,  and  vulgarity.  Here  the  students  are 
to  be  drilled  into  that  most  difficult,  but  most  invaluable  ac- 
complishment, although  nearly  neglected  everywhere — correct 
reading.  It  is  a  public  reproach  upon  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  that  very  few  of  them  can  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible 
with  common  propriety.  The  most  barbarous  pronunciation, 
blundering  emphasis,  and  disgusting  tones,  perpetually  assail 
every  cultivated  ear.  It  is  not  imagined  that  the  greatest  per- 
fection in  the  art  of  reading,  or  speaking,  can  effect  a  spiritual 
change  on  the  human  heart;  but  it  is  a  solemn  duty,  not  to 


496  FAINT,   YET   PUESUING. 

exhibit  the   "  Word  of  Life"  in  a  form  which  something  like 
the  spirit  of  martyrdom  is  required  to  endure. 

This  department  needs  one  professor  ;  who,  while  the  number 
of  students  is  small,  may,  without  injury  to  the  institution,  have 
another  charge ;  but  should  it  become  considerable,  will  find  his 
employment  quite  sufficient,  from  the  multitude  of  its  details. 

These  are  views  not  hastily  adopted ;  and,  therefore,  not  lightly 
to  be  relinquished.  The  Synod  will  judge,  how  far  the  strength 
and  capacity  of  one  individual  are  equal  to  the  exertions 
which  they  demand.  As  allusion  to  personal  situation  is  un- 
avoidable, I  must  say  that  I  have  felt  myself  overwhelmed  by 
the  utter  disproportion  between  their  magnitude  and  my  own 
feebleness.  Under  the  weight,  particularly  of  the  second  de- 
partment, my  strength  has  given  way;  and  left  me  with  a 
shattered  constitution.  I  regret  no  health  impaired  in  the  best 
of  all  services ;  the  service  in  which  it  is  my  wish  and 
hope  to  yield  up  my  spirit.  I  regret  that  I  have  done,  and 
am  able  to  do  so  little ;  and  that  our  little  school  of  the 
prophets,  which  I  have  cherished  with  all  my  faculties  and 
aflt'ections,  must  proceed  for  some  time  with  languid  steps.  The 
Synod  will  distinctly  understand  that  I  do  not  pretend  to  en. 
counter  the  whole  of  the  labour  which  the  just  management 
of  the  institution  calls  for ;  nor  even  so  much  as  I  formerly 
attempted.  The  experiment  has  been  decisive,  and  has  demon- 
strated that  I  should  only  cut  short  a  life  probably  but  short 
at  best.  Nor  can  I  undertake  more  than  shall  consist  with  the 
attentions  due  to  my  pastoral  charge,  which  can  be  suspended 
no  longer.  They  have  contributed,  and  are  willing  to  con- 
tribute largely  to  the  public  purse  ;  nor  would  it  be  righteous, 
to  convert  their  magnanimity  into  an  instrument  of  suffering, 
which  would  not  fail  to  react  with  a  hurtfal  efficacy  upon  the 
Seminary  itself.  All  I  can  promise,  is  to  take  the  general 
superintendence;  directing  the  students  how  to  carry  on  their 
pursuits,  and  leaving  the  rest  to  God  and  their  own  fidelity  to 
themselves ;  joining  with  this  superintendence,  instruction  in 
the  system  of  theology,  and  hearing  their  discourses. 

At  present  I  see  nothing  more  to  be  done.  It  will,  perhaps, 
be  proper  to  turn  our  eyes  immediately  to  the  training  up  from 
among  our  own  youth,  one  who  may  be  equal  to  the  first  de- 
partment, and  there  are  not  wanting  materials  in  the  Seminary 


LIFE    OF   HAMILTON.  497 

which  may  very  shortly  be  fitted  up.  In  all  events,  the  sem- 
inary must  not  stop  or  it  dies ;  and  its  resurrection  will  be 
extremely  improbable,  as  our  church  is  likely  to  die  with  it. 
Most  gladly  would  I  welcome  that  day  which  should  permit  me 
to  resign  my  place  to  younger  and  more  healthy  hands,  and  to 
see  the  whole  arrangement  such  as  we  owe  to  the  kingdom  of 
God.  It  would  help  to  gild  my  evening  horizon,  and  conduce 
to  the  putting  off  my  tabernacle  with  satisfaction  and  peace. 
The  passing  hour  is  the  hour  of  action.     The  good  Lord  inspire, 

direct,  and  prosper  it. 

J.  M.  MASON 
Philadelphia,  May  28t.h,  1819. 

The  Synod  by  a  formal  vote  expressed  theii»  cordial  approbation 
of  the  view  presented  in  the  above  paper,  and  their  deep  convic- 
tion of  its  importance.  At  the  same  time  they  authorized  the  Pro- 
fessor to  employ  such  temporary  assistance  as  the  present  exigen- 
cies and  interests  of  the  Seminary,  in  his  judgment,  required. 

It  may  be  remarked  too  in  this  place,  that  his  impaired  health 
had  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  relinquish  what  he  had 
regarded  as  a  very  responsible  undertaking — the  Life  of  General 
Hamilton.  He  would  have  done  this  with  less  regret  if  he  could 
have  forseen  the  faithfulness  and  ability  with  which  it  would  be 
executed  by  another  hand;  nor  would  the  further  delay  of  more 
than  thirty  years  for  its  completion  have  left  him  unreconciled, 
if  he  could  have  fully  known  what  length  of  time  was  necessary 
for  clearing  away  those  thick  mists  of  prejudice  and  misrepre- 
sentation which  demagogues  and  party  zealots  had  been  able 
to  throw  over  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  dead.  It  would 
have  soothed  his  griefs,  if  he  could  have  anticipated  what 
ample  justice  would  at  length  be  done  to  the  character  of  his 
friend,  as  well  as  of  his  friend's  assailants. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  among  other  communications, 
Dr.  Mason  received  from  Dr.  Chalmers  the  following  gratifying 
expression  of  regard,  along  with  a  volume  of  his  writings: — 

TO  DR.  MASON. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  beg  your  acceptance  of  the  accompany- 
ing volume. 

I  saw  Mr.  James  Scott  of  New  York  lately,  from  whom  I 
32 


498  PATERNAL   SOLICITUDE   AND   C0U:N*SEL. 

learned  that  you  were  better,  thougli  not  altogether  in  a  con- 
firmed state  of  health. 

May  you  be  spared  for  the  continuance  of  those  exertions  by 
which  you  have  done  so  much  to  maintain  and  promote  the 
cause  of  evangelical  truth  in  America! — and  may  it  be  long  ere 
the  large  space  which  you  now  fill  in  the  public  eye  become 
vacant  by  your  departure  to  another  and  a  better  world. 
Believe  me,  my  very  dear  Sir, 

Yours  most  truly, 

THOMAS  CHALMERS. 

TO  MR.  JAMES  H.  MASON,  AT  SCHOOL  IN  SCHENECTADY. 

New  York,  Feb.  10,  1819. 

My  Dear  James:  You  cannot  well  conceive  the  pleasure 
which  your  late  letter  gave  me,  unless  you  can  enter  into  the 
feelings  of  a  father  toward  a  beloved  son,  of  whom  he  has  heard 
many  good  things,  and  hopes  still  more.  I  have  feasted  upon 
the  cheering  accounts  which  have  been  transmitted  to  me  from 
time  to  time,  of  the  diligent  study,  honourable  standing,  and 
exemplary  behaviour  of  my  boys,  with  infinitely  greater  relish 
than  a  literal  feast  could  possibly  afford ;  and  I  look  forward 
to  the  day  when  I  shall  be  able  to  present  them  to  my  friends 
and  say,  with  all  the  exultation  of  a  father's  heart,  "  These  are 
my  sons."  My  only  fear  at  present,  my  dear  James,  is,  that  in 
your  great  anxiety  to  excel,  you  may  omit  vigorous  and  regu- 
lar bodily  exercise.  I  wish  you  to  be  reasonably  but  exactly 
attentive  to  this  point ;  or  you  may  plant  in  your  frame,  before 
you  know  or  suspect  it,  the  seeds  of  long,  cruel,  and  painful 
disorders.  Too  intense  study  is  as  hurtful  as  too  little.  Action 
of  mind  must  be  relieved  by  action  of  body  ;  or  the  power  of 
both  will  give  way.  Eemember  the  case  of  that  lovely  youth, 
but  intolerable  student,  Kirk  White.  You  are  growing ;  and 
your  muscles  must  expand,  and  your  whole  constitution  become 
consolidated  by  healthful  exercise,  or  you  will  be  an  old  man 
as  soon  as  you  are  a  young  one.  You  will  not  understand  me 
as  recommending  idleness — the  very  worst  situation  possible  for 
both  body  and  mind.  Let  both  be  active,  but  let  not  one  lord 
it  over  the  other 

It  would  be  very  useful,  my  son,  to  employ  your  pen  more 


PATERNAL   SOLICITUDE   AND   COUNSEL.  499 

in  letter-writing.  You  do  very  well ;  but  there  is  an  ease  and 
gracefulness  in  this  sort  of  composition,  which  cannot  be  ac- 
quired but  by  frequent  exercise.  By  this  your  brother  Ers- 
kine  has  already  acquired  considerable  skill.  Tell  him  that  I 
shall  be  glad  to  see  a  specimen  of  it  in  a  letter  to  myself  when 
he  can  find  a  private  opportunity. 

My  own  health  is  rather  impaired  since  my  return  to  my 
wonted  duties.  All  the  rest  are  well.  In  a  couple  of  months, 
we  remove  to  Mr  Oothout's  place,  in  Broadway,  two  miles 
from  town.  Yon  will  there  have  good  country  air  and  abund- 
ance of  fruit.  My  love  to  Catharine,  Mr.  Y.  V.,  and  Erskine. 
Your  affectionate  father, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

TO    MR.  ERSKINE  MASON,  SCHENECTADY. 

New  York,  March  17th,  1818. 

My  Dear  Erskine  :  You  cannot  think  how  happy  I  have 
been  made  by  the  good  accounts  I  have  heard  of  you  from  time 
to  time ;  of  your  steadiness ;  of  your  diligence ;  of  your  pro- 
gress ;  and  your  correct  behaviour.  These  things  overpay  all 
my  anxiety  about  you.  I  grudge  no  pains,  no  expense  within 
my  reach  for  the  education  of  my  children,  who  thus  prove  to 
be  my  crown  of  glory,  when  I  grow  feeble,  and  must  prepare 
to  lay  down  my  head.  I  do  not  mean  to  alarm  you,  by  repre- 
senting myself  as  in  a  dangerous  way ;  but  in  the  course  of 
nature  I  must  expect  to  be  called  hence  before  my  children, 
and  I  have  abundant  admonition  "  how  frail  I  am." 

There  is  a  little  hint,  my  dear  boy,  in  the  close  of  j'-our  letter 
to  your  mother,  received  two  days  ago,  which  very  sensibly 
touched  my  heart,  and  awakened  all  my  solicitude  for  you. 
You  speak  of  a  revival  of  religion  among  the  children,  and  of 
your  endeavouring  yourself  to  seek  the  Lord.  Oh,  should  it 
be  so  indeed,  that  my  beloved  boy  is  in  earnest  about  his  im- 
mortal soul !  Should  he  indeed  have  gone  from  home  to  find 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  life  eternal !  How  blessed  would  this  be  ! 
— how  should  my  thankful  heart  pour  forth  praise  to  the  Cod 
of  my  mercies !  My  youngest  son,  in  the  days  of  his  early 
youth,  safe  for  eternity  ! — what  happiness  like  this  ?  Yes,  seek 
the  Lord,  my  child,  and  he  will  be  found  of  you.     You  have 


500  CHOIR-SINGING. 

mucli  to  be  forgiven,  although  you  are  so  young.  Spread  it 
out  before  God ;  confess  it  without  extenuation ;  aim  particu- 
larly to  be  deeply  and  duly  affected  with  the  depravity  and 
deceitfulness  of  your  heart ;  and  beg  of  God  the  free  pardon  of  it 
all  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  blood  cleanseth 
from  all  sin.  Take  care  that  your  convictions  of  sin  do  not  die 
away  till  you  have  found  rest  in  the  Eedeemer.  Take  care 
that  you  be  not  satisfied  with  them.  Conviction  is  not  conver- 
sion. You  must  he  horn  again.  Take  care  that  you  do  not 
mistake  the  moving  of  your  affections  for  a  saving  change  of 
heart.  You  have  tender  feelings,  which  are  easily  excited. 
But  you  must  have  something  better  to  be  a  Christian.  Medi- 
tate much  on  what  you  have  learned.  Eeverently  read  your 
Bible,  and  pray  over  it.  <  And  the  Lord  bless  you  and  mark 
you  for  his  own  !  I  say  the  same  for  James,  who,  I  hope,  does 
not  forget  to  push  that  question — "  What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved?"  "Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt 
be  saved." 

When  Mr.  Barnes  breaks  up  his  school,  you  may  both  come 
home  immediately.  We  are  to  move,  and  you  may  be  of 
service. 

Make  my  most  respectful  compliments  to  Mr.  Barnes.  I  am 
greatly  his  debtor  for  his  instructions  to  you  and  James.  My 
love  to  your  sister  and  brothers. 

Your  affectionate  father, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  mode  of  conducting  an  important  part  of  public  worship 
has  often  been  a  subject  of  inquiry,  and  is  not  likely  very  soon 
to  lose  its  interest.  A  glance  at  it  will  be  seen  in  the  following 
communication  : — 

TO    MR.    ISAAC    BURREL. 

New  York,  January  13th,  1819. 

Sir  :  In  forbidding  the  introduction  of  a  "  chorus  of  singers" 
into  any  of  our  churches,  I  think  our  constitution  contemplates 
a  selection  of  singers  to  perform  a/one  that  part  of  God's  worship 
which  belongs  to  public  praise  ;  the  mass  of  the  congregation 
remaining  mute,  and  being  merely  hearers.  This  sort  of  abuse 
has  crept  into  many  American  churches,  and  is  the  thing,  in  my 


PEACE   BETTER   THAN   A   CHORUS.  501 

opinion,  against  which  our  constitution  meant  to  guard.     I  do 
not  see  why  eight  or  ten  persons  beginning  the  tune,  and  con- 
trolling it  bj  their  joint  voices,  so  as  to  prevent  the  music  from 
being  marred,  the  congregation  uniting  with  them  when  started, 
is   more  contrary  to  our  rule  than  one  or  two.     If  we  are  to 
have  any  singing  at  all,  it  must  be  legun — but  whether  by  one  or 
two,  or  ten,  appears  to  me  indifferent ;  and,  therefore,  that  such 
a  proceeding  as  you  describe  is  not  prohibited.     At  the  same 
time,  it  belongs  to  Christian  kindness  not  to  push  our  liberty 
at  the  expense  of  wounding  even  a  weak  or  inaccurate  con- 
science, nor  to  be  contending  about  indifferent  matters.     Per- 
haps the  standing  of  the  commencing  singers  may  alarm  some 
serious  people,  who  know  that  this  is  the  fomi  in  churches 
which  have  admitted  the  justly  offensive  chorus  above  men- 
tioned.    Then  let  them  sit  down.     Their  voices  will  not  be  the 
less  powerful,  or  the  less  harmonious.     But  whether  they  stand 
or  sit,  let  them  by  all  means  be  persons  of  serious  and  reveren- 
tial deportment,  and  not  thoughtless,  giddy  boys  and  girls,  as 
is  sometimes  the  case  in  other  places.     The  worship  of  the 
"  Great  King"  is  too  awful  to  be  sported  with.     At  any  rate, 
if  there  is  any  important  difference  of  sentiment  on  this  point, 
let  each  side  forbear  the  other  in  love,  that  the  peace  of  the 
church  be  not  endangered.     That  peace  is  worth  all  the  "  cho- 
ruses"  on  earth.     The  devil  is  gratified,  and  the  spirit  of  grace 
grieved,  when  Christians  are  set  together  by  the  ears  for  trifles. 
We  have  had  too  much  jangling  ;  let  us  have  some  peace. 

Eespectfully  yours. 


J.  M.  MASON. 


TO  THE  EEV.  J.  LIND. 


New  York,  February  27th,  1819. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  A  letter  from  our  common  friend,  Mr.  J. 
Kenned}'-,  gave  me  the  first  intimation  of  the  affliction  which 
the  will  of  our  Heavenly  Father  has  lately  called  you  to  endure. 
The  sympathy  of  earthly  friends  can  go  but  a  little  way  in 
staunching  the  bleeding  heart.  Yet  it  is  not  without  its  value ; 
and  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  you  have  it  unfeignedly  from  all 
under  this  roof.  But  your  great  resource  must  be  in  that 
loving  kindness  which  knows  how  to  bind  up  the  broken  heart, 


502  DEATH   OF   MRS.   LIND. 

and  to  Leal  a  wound  which  the  gentlest  finger  on  earth  can 
touch  only  to  make  you  feel  the  smart.  It  is  our  unutterable 
privilege,  my  dear  friend,  to  have  at  all  times,  and  under  the 
severest  privations,  access  to  the  compassionate  bosom  of  our 
God  and  Father.  You  need  not  now  be  told  that  he  does  not 
afflict  willingly,  nor  grieve  the  children  of  men  ;  that  he  has 
reasons  for  his  dealings  with  his  own  family,  .which,  if  revealed 
to  them,  would  shut  the  lips  of  murmur  and  open  those  of 
thankfulness ;  and  that  he  may  and  will  cause  even  this  sore 
bereavement,  in  all  its  touching  circumstances,  so  to  operate 
upon  your  personal  and  relative  condition,  as  to  make  you  own 
with  gratitude  and  joy,  that  he  hath  done  all  things  well. 

You  and  I,  my  friend,  are  often  called,  in  the  discharge  of 
our  public  duties,  to  speak  peace  to  mourners.  It  is  worth  all 
the  pain  which  our  hearts  feel  when  our  turn  of  m.ourning 
comes,  to  try,  in  our  own  case,  the  value  and  the  virtue  of  those 
consolations  which  we  address  to  other  Christians  walking  in 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  Oh,  there  is  no  voice  so 
soothing  as  the  voice  of  him,  who  comforts  others,  with  the 
consolation  wherewith  he  himself  hath  been  comforted  of  God ! 
"We  walk  by  faith.  It  is  easy  to  believe  for  others ;  not  so 
easy,  yet  not  impracticable,  to  believe  for  ourselves.  Dear 
friend,  you  know  how  to  speak  much  and  tenderly  of  the  kind- 
ness of  your  Father  in  his  dispensations  toward  your  fellow 
believers  ;  can  you  doubt  for  a  moment  of  his  kindness  toward 
you  ? — of  his  kindness  in  removing  the  mother  of  your  babes  ? 
Is  this  good  ?  I  know  what  flesh  and  blood  will  remonstrate  ; 
but  what  says  your  faith  1  ay,  your  faith^  which  can  take  the 
word  of  your  God  in  opposition  to  all  the  remonstrances  of 
flesh  and  blood?  You  do  not  sorrow  as  those  who  have  no 
hope.  There  is  a  mighty  relief.  And  why  should  not  your 
soul  here  below  hold  communion  with  the  soul  of  your  dear 
wife  above,  in  the  joy  of  her  escape  from  sin  and  grief?  Be 
it  so  !  It  is  blessed  fellowship.  Oar  faith  can  reach  it.  The 
.  Saviour  sweeten  your  cup  of  bitterness  ! 

Ever  your's  most  affectionately, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


SUGGESTIONS   RESPECTING   THE   SEMINARY.  503 

TO  THE  REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Baltimore,  March  8th,  1819. 

My  Dear  Uncle  :  I  have  received  3'our  letter  by  Mr.  B., 
and  am  very  much  gratified. 

The  subject  on  which  you  said  so  little,  and  yet,  in  a  few 
words,  so  much,  the  Seminary,  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  all  who 
love  Zion,  is  one  on  which  I  have  thought  a  good  deal.  I  am 
sorry,  that  while  along  with  all  other  institutions  which  are 
dependent  upon  annual  contributions,  it  must  suffer  under  the 
pressure  of  the  times — it  is  now  more  seriously  affected.  I  had 
hoped  that  your  health  had  been  sufficiently  established  by 
your  Western  expedition  to  secure  your  services  in  a  consid- 
erable degree.  I  feel  much  afflicted  that  it  is  not  so.  What 
will  the  issue  be  if  you  resign,  as  I  infer  from  your  expression 
you  intend  ?     And  yet  I  think  you  right. 

Still  I  hope  that  you  will  not  resign  absolutely.  Cannot  the 
institution  be  susjjended  for  a  season,  in  hope  that  your  health 
may  be  restored  by  relaxation  ?  And  as  you  was  so  much 
benefited^ by  your  tour,  might  you  not  be  induced  to  try  it 
again  for  health  alone  ?  I  have  just  heard  that  your  visit  last 
Summer  did  much  good — altering  the  opinions,  and  removing 
the  prejudices  which  people  held  with  regard  to  yourself.  Mr. 
McLanburg,  from  Chilicothe,  has  given  us  this  information. 
The  effect  has  been  great ;  for  you  were  a  terrible  being,  when 
some  Western  people  drew  your  portrait.  I  would  not  under- 
take to  cCtunt  your  hours.  Thus  the  current  which  so  long  set 
in  against  the  Seminary,  may  be  turning  in  its  favour.  I  should 
hope  so ;  and  while  any  ground  of  hope  remains,  may  we  not 
strenuously  occupy  it  ?  If  you  absolutely  resign,  the  Seminary 
must  stop ;  and  all  the  disadvantages  of  the  measure,  I  urge, 
would  be  felt,  while  its  benefits  would  be  lost.  But  I  presume 
you  have  considered  this  plan  yourself;  and  I  would  for  this 
reason  have  hesitated  to  mention  it,  but  that  this  information 
from  Mr.  McL.  appeared  to  give  it  some  merit  of  which  you  might 
not  be  aware. 

Since  Mr.  B.'s  return  the  sacrament  of  the  Supper  has  been 
administered  among  us.  Fourteen  were  added,  which  makes 
our  number  317.    There  is  a  general  and  serious  attention  man- 


504  A   REMARKABLE   CHILD. 

ifested  among  the  people  in  hearing  the  Word.  I  have  been 
lecturing  for  some  time  past  on  the  Redeemer's  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  I  entered  upon  it  with  trembling,  apprehending  that 
it  contained  greater  depth  than  I  could  fathom.  I  am  glad, 
however,  that  I  commenced.  It  has  been  more  interesting  to 
mj^self,  and  more  instructive  to  my  people,  than  any  course  of 
lectures  that  I  have  ever  delivered.  The  plainness  and  simpli- 
cit}'-  of  the  truth  which  it  contains,  the  point  and  novelty  of  the 
remarks  to  which  it  naturally  leads,  have  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  some,  who,  until  now,  were  rarely  found  among  us,  and 
to  whom  we  hope  it  may  be  blessed. 

We  have  a  little  boy  among  us,  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  a 
son  of  Mr.  Palmer,  whom  I  am  watching  with  a  great  deal  of 
interest,  and  with  some  trembling.  His  great  accuracy  in  recit- 
ing the  shorter  Catechism,  with  proofs,  and  portions  of  the 
Scriptures ;  the  number  and  aptness  of  his  quotations  from 
them ;  the  conscientiousness  which  he  evinces  with  regard  to 
duty,  both  in  respect  of  himself  and  others  ;  his  questions  and 
method  of  asking  them,  showing  that  his  mind  is  constantly  em- 
ployed on  religious  things  ;  his  efforts  to  instruct  his»brothers 
and  sisters,  and  his  father's  servants,  astonish  me.  It  is  so 
much  like  a  work  of  grace  on  his  heart,  I  ask  myself,  can  it  be 
any  thing  else  ?  A  short  time  ago  his  father  was  leaving  home, 
and  told  him  to  read  a  chapter  to  his  brothers  and  sisters  every 
morning.  Accordingly  he  regularly  called  them  together,  and 
the  servants  with  them,  and  not  only  read  a  chapter,  but  made 
them  all  kneel  down,  while  he  read  a  prayer  from  "  Jenk's  De- 
votions." Before  this,  his  father  had  heard  him  ask  a  blessing 
at  dinner,  when  he  thought  no  one  near  him  but  the  children. 

Your  affectionate  nephew, 

JOHN  M.  DUNCAN. 

TO  DR.  CHALMERS. 

New  York,  March  9th,  1819. 
Eev.  and  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  kind 
note  by  Mr.  Duncan  ;  and  recently  for  another  which  I  duly 
received,  and,  after  due  pains,  and  application  of  my  critical 
acumen  bestowed  thereon,  nearly  decyphered  them  both.  Here 
and  there  a  word  has  baffled  the  united  sagacity  of  the  house  ; 


DEATH  OF  JOHN   E.   CALDWELL.  505 

and  must,  I  fear,  be  left  to  the  genius  of  some  future  Gruterus, 
or  Montfaucon.  However,  I  have  succeeded  in  gathering  your 
meaning,  and  shall  always  feel  myself  gratified  in  the  opportu- 
nity, and  repaid  for  the  difficulty  of  diving  into  the  mysteries 
of  your  sui-generis  chirographs. 

Some  time  ago  I  gave  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a  respectable 
Quaker  named  Griscom,  and  explained  the  cause  of  my  disap- 
pointment in  not  seeing  my  Glasgow  friends  before  leaving 
Scotland.  Lest  my  broad-brimmed  acquaintance  should  not 
have  seen  you,  I  shall  merely  state  that  my  phj^sician  in  Lon- 
don detained  me  so  long,  that  I  was  obliged  to  abandon  almost 
the  whole  of  my  contemplated  tour,  and  to  leave  Edinburgh  at 
very  short  notice  for  Liverpool,  where  I  arrived  just  in  time 
for  my  ship. 

During  the  last  Summer  and  Autumn  I  was  sent,  with  some  of 
my  brethren,  on  a  Synodical  Commission,  to  inspect  the  state 
of  our  churches  in  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  and  to  decide  some 
unhappy  disputes  which  had  grown  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
local  church  authority.  The  tour  was  performed  on  horseback  ; 
and  cost  me  a  ride  of  1750  miles.  My  quadruped  doctor  did 
more  for  me  than  all  the  bipeds  of  the  faculty  ;  and  I  returned 
free  from  my  evil  symptoms,  and  in  better  health  than  I  had 
known  for  several  years.  But  although  near  a  cure,  I  was  not 
cured.  The  resumption  of  my  professional  labours,  especially 
with  my  students  of  Theology,  revived  my  complaint,  and  has 
thrown  me  quite  back.  It  is  now  settled  that  I  must  either 
relinquish  this  last  employment,  (unutterably  more  momentous 
in  my  view  than  any  congregational  services),  or  prepare  to  fall 
a  speedy  sacrifice  to  its  duties. 

Just  as  I  was  penning  the  foregoing  sentence,  my  son-in-law, 
the  Eev.  John  Knox,  entered  my  chamber  to  announce  the 
sudden  death  of  Air.  John  B.  Caldwell,  agent  for  the  American 
Bible  Society.  He  was  a  good  and  active  man  ;  an  intelligent 
Elder  of  brother  Eomeyn's  church ;  and  of  extensive  usefulness 
in  our  benevolent  institutions.  He  is  gone,  I  trust,  to  the  light 
ineffable,  where  even  the  illumination  of  the  Bible  shall  be 
eclipsed. 

And  you  too,  my  dear  friend,  have  lost  the  treasurer  of  that 


506  CHEERING  TOKENS. 

truth  and  grace  whicli  God  had  committed  to  the  venerable  Dr. 
Balfour,  I  feel  bereaved,  but  how  much  sorer  must  be  your 
bereavement !  A  star  of  the  first  magnitude  has  disappeared 
from  the  firmament  of  the  Scottish  Church  ;  but  then  it  is  only 
to  shine  with  divine  lustre  in  a  higher  firmament.  0  !  shall  we 
be  ready  to  take  the  same  flight  from  this  earthly  to  that 
heavenly  sphere?  I  cannot  tell  you  how  such  a  question 
weighs  down  my  sinful  heart.  "Were  not  our  Lord's  righteous- 
ness perfect,  His  grace  exceedingly  abundant,  and  His  spirit 
the  Living  One,  I  should  lie  down  in  despair,  and  die  the  death 
of  the  undone.  Pray  for  me,  that  I  may  be  filled  with  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Saviour,  and  be  enabled  to  honour  His  name,  tasting 
as  well  as  showing  forth  His  salvation. 

I  had  much  more  to  write ;  but  must  desist.     After  my  best 
regards  to  Mrs.  Chalmers,  I  can  only  add  that  I  am  in  great 

truth, 

Yours  affectionately, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


TO  THE  REV.  J.  V.  V.,  SCHENECTADY. 

New  York,  March  17th,  1819. 
My  Dear  Sir  :  I  am  soothed  by  the  news  of  your  ministe- 
rial success.  The  Lord  does  not  leave  himself  without  a  wit- 
ness. And  if  transgressors  be.  turned  from  the  error  of  their 
way  into  the  light  of  His  salvation,  the  instruments  of  their  con- 
version are  infinitely  overpaid  for  their  labours  and  their  mortifi- 
cations too.  There  has  been  a  little  sprinkling  on  our  fleece  in 
Murray  Street.  At  our  last  communion  we  had  an  addition  of 
eighteen.  A  letter  from  J.  M.  Duncan  informs  me  of  fourteen 
added  to  his  church,  and  an  increased  attention  to  divine  things 
in  his  flock.  Yours  too,  I  understand,  are  roused,  especially  the 
younger  part.  May  the  commotion  increase,  till  the  last  bone 
shall  cleave  to  its  fellow,  and  there  shall  stand  up  upon  their 
feet  an  exceeding  great  army,  the  work  of  the  Quickener,  his 
conquest  from  death.  "  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  who  hath  part 
in  the  first  resurrection  !"  Let  us  be  diligent  and  thankful  and 
humble.  Grace  cannot  be  proud,  or  vain  ;  but  both  vanity  and 
pride,  if  not  watched  and  crucified,   will  continue  to  elevate 


AFFAIRS   AT   GENEVA.  507 

themselves  by  the  doings  of  grace  itself— even  the  grace  of 
the  Most  High.  Be  this  our  motto—"  Not  by  might  nor  by 
power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord."  He  does  all  that  is 
worth  the  doing.  To  him  be  all  the  praise  for  the  past ;  and 
all  our  seeking  for  the  future. 

Your  little  girl  has  been  restored  to  you.  She  has  now  been 
twice  given  by  our  Heavenly  Father.  Hold  her  as  his,  to  be 
surrendered  whenever  he  shall  call  for  her.  Remember  for 
yourself,  and  tell  my  dear  Catharine,  that  we  must  have  no 
idols ;  or  the  Lord  will  break  them.  The  loveliest  only  child 
that  ever  was  fashioned  by  his  hand,  must  not  be  his  competi- 
tor in  the  heart.  May  he  graciously  keep  everything  from  in- 
terfering between  us  and  him  !  All  goes  right,  when  he  alone 
is  on  the  throne.     His  love  rejoice  you,  and  bless  my  daughter  ! 

Very  affectionately, 

J.  M.  HIASON. 

The  following  letter  alludes  to  events  at  Geneva,  of  which 
we  have  already  seen  the  commencement,  and  which  at  the  time 
of  them,  made  a  deep  sensation  throughout  the  Christian  world. 
They  were  connected  with  doctrines  which  Dr.  Mason  not  only 
considered  vital,  but  which  he  had  long  regarded  with  peculiar 
sensibility.  He  moreover  loved  the  sufferer  as  a  personal 
friend,  with  whom  he  had  enjoyed,  at  Geneva,  a  great  deal  of 
Christian  communion,  to  the  no  small  edification  and  comfort 
of  both.  The  letter  was  written  in  French,  and  translated  for 
our  present  use.  This  will  account  for  some  of  its  idiomatic 
phrases : — 

FROM  DR.  MALAN,  OF  GENEVA,  TO  DR.  M. 

Havre  de  Grace,  April  22,  1819. 

My  Good  and  Respected  Friend  :  What  events  at  Geneva 
since  your  departure !  How  mightily  does  the  Lord  work ! 
What  vigorous  and  sustained  wrestling  !  Heresy  must  tremble. 
The  idol  has  feet  of  clay  ;  we  will  strike  them  and  it  will  crum- 
ble, to  the  shame  of  those  who  have  adored  it.  Already  it  has 
received  a  mortal  blow.  I  have  been  suspended  and  after- 
ward deposed  by  it,  because  of  the  name  of  him  who  was  dead, 
but  lives  forever  and  ever.  God  be  praised  !  and  let  all  the 
children  of  God  say  Amen  !     There  is  a  holy  people  at  Gen- 


508  AFFAIRS  AT   GENEVA. 

eva.  He  who  has  the  key  of  David — who  opens,  and  no  man 
can  shut — has  opened  a  door  before  us.  We  have  only  a  little 
strength ;  but  he  has  permitted  us  to  confess  his  name,  and  to 
keep  the  word  of  his  patience.  He  also  will  keep  us  in  the 
hour  of  temptation.  Oh,  how  excellent, — how  sweet  and  dear 
to  my  heart, — is  this  reproach  of  Christ  with  which  I  have  been 
covered  !  Yes,  I  am  a  Christian,  and  I  will  die  a  thousand  times 
with  joy,  to  publish  it  in  the  face  of  all  the  children  of  Arius 
and  Socinus.  But  alas,  they  are  taken  captive  by  the  destroy- 
er !  Let  us  pity  them,  and,  by  kind  warning,  endeavour  to 
make  them  return  unto  him  who  has  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
You  have  often  said  to  me,  my  good  friend — you  have  written 
it  to  me  in  remembrance — that  "  we  need  fear  nothing  under 
the  guidance  of  Christ."  That  is  true ;  yes,  most  true.  What 
faithfulness — what  tenderness,  in  our  kind  Saviour !  I  remem- 
ber to  have  seen  your  tears  flow  in  speaking  of  that  best  of 
masters.  At  that  time  I  did  not  understand  those  sentiments 
as  I  do  now.  I  had  then  not  yet  learned  in  the  happy  school 
of  tribulation,  that  "it  is  good  to  be  afflicted ;"  and  that,  under 
the  cross  of  Christ,  we  find  the  flowers  of  hope,  and  taste  the 
blessedness  of  being*  his  servants.  I  have  often  said,  but  I 
cannot  grow  tired  of  repeating  it,  that  I  could  not  wish  that 
our  Heavenly  Father  had  spared  me  one  of  the  trials  through 
which  it  has  pleased  him  to  make  me  pass,  if  I  should  by  this 
exemption  be  deprived  of  the  graces  which  he  has  attached  to 
them.  Let  us,  dear  Doctor,  go  on  boldly  and  sincerely.  See, 
life  is  so  short,  so  little  a  thing,  it  will  soon  be  ended.  We 
shall  then  see  Christ.  Yes,  we  ourselves  shall  then  see  him 
whom  we  love  and  follow  without  seeing.  Oh,  what  servant 
could  be  so  unworthy,  so  obstinate,  as  to  hesitate  and  calcu- 
late with  himself?  No,  my  brother,  we  will  not  do  it ;  and  if 
it  please  God,  we  will  go  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  to  cry — 
"  Honour  and  Glory  to  the  Nazarine — to  the  Crucified  !"  We 
will  carry  thither  the  standard  of  the  Lamb,  and  we  will  rally 
our  brethren  around  us.  If  our  blood  be  shed,  what  does  it 
matter  ?     Has  that  of  our  Master  been  spared  ? 

Blessed  be  that  good  Being  who  has  called  me,  and  estab- 
lished me  at  Geneva  !  Bruen,  my  brother — my  intimate  and 
good  friend — whom  I  have  the  joy  of  seeing  before  me,  in  writ- 


AFFAIKS  AT   GENEVA.  509 

ing  these  lines— Bruen  who  has  been  an  instrument  of  God's 
goodness  toward  me,  and  who  leaves  me  after  seeing  his  labours 
honoured  with  success, — will  recount  to  you  many  details,  which 
will  prove  to  you  more  plainly  what  we  have  said  at  Geneva — 
that  he  who  walks  by  faith,  walks  in  .■  the  light.  Adieu  !  May 
the  grace  of  Christ  be  with  you  eternally  ! 

Your  friend  and  brother, 

C.  MALAN. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX 


THE    EVENINO    OF    HIS    DAYS. 

Increasing  Infirmities — Proposes  Rev.  J.  M.  Duncan  for  his  Colleague — Answer 
of  the  latter — Letter  to  Dr.  Chalmers — Letter  ato  Mrs.  Catharine  Van  Vech- 
ten — Invited  to  the  Presidency  of  Dickinson  College — Removes  to  Carlisle — 
An  Accident — Death  of  Mrs.  Van  Vechten — Death  of  his  son  James — Revival  Of 
Religion  in  the  College — Letter  from  Mr.  William  Montgomery — Letter  from 
Joseph  Nourse,  Esq. — Resigns  the  Presidency^Letter  from  a  Committee  of 
the  Trustees — Answer — Returns  to  New  York — Letter  to  the  Rev.  J.  V.  V. — 
Last  Public  Service — The  Closing  Scene. 

From  the  communication  addressed  to  the  General  Synod,  at 
their  last  meeting,  by  Dr.  Mason,  it  was  evident  that  he  con- 
sidered his  energies  deeply  undermined,  and  that  the  relief  ob- 
tained at  times  by  relaxation  and  travel,  was  but  temporary. 
In  the  Autumn  of  that  year,  his  symptoms  became  still  more 
discouraging.  He  was  in  two  instances  visited  with  paralytic 
affection,  which  awakened  in  the  minds  of  his  friends  lively 
apprehensions.  Though  after  a  cessation  of  his  labours  for  a 
time,  he  was  able  to  resume  them,  it  was  with  abated  vgiour. 
In  the  month  of  February,  1820,  an  incident  occurred  in  his 
pulpit  which  seemed  of  decisive  portent.  Having  finished  the 
preliminary  exercises  of  the  occasion,  as  his  manner  was,  he 
entered  upon  the  exposition  of  the  portion  of  Scripture  which 
he  had  read,  when  all  at  once,  his  memory  failed,  and  he  was 
unable  to  proceed.  Bursting  into  tears,  he  told  the  people 
what  had  happened,  and  that  he  must  yield  to  the  infirmity. 
He  then  offered  up  a  short  prayer,  gave  out  three  verses  of  the 
fifty-sixth  Psalm,  and   dismissed  the  congregation.*     It  could 

'•'  It  is  remarkable  that  at  nearly  the  same  age,  a  similar  visitation  befell  Dr. 
Mason's  father.  Dr.  John  Gosman  says  :  "  On  that  occasion  he  had  selected, 
as  the  subject  of  his  discourse,  Luke  ix.  31 :  Who  appeared  in  glory,  and  spake  of 
the  decease  which  he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.     He  had  proceeded  consider- 


A  COLLEAGUE   PROPOSED.  511 

now  no  longer  be  doubted  that  his  strength  was  unequal  to  his 
burdens.  His  flock  resolved  at  once  to  lighten  his  labours,  by 
procuring,  if  possible,  an  assistant,  and  leave  to  him  only  such 
services  as  he  might  find  it  convenient  to  render.  On  an  inti- 
mation of  this,  he  proposed  to  them  "to  call  the  Rev.  John 
M.  Duncan,  of  Baltimore,  whose  talents,"  he  said,  in  a  com- 
munication to  his  Session  and  Trustees,  "  you  know,  in  whose 
integrity  and  prudence  I  have  unbounded  confidence,  and  who, 
if  he  can  be  obtained,  bids  fair  to  accomplish  all  that  you  can 
wish.  I  am  sensible  that  nothing  but  his  greater  usefulness  in 
the  churches  could  justify  the  attempt  to  remove  him;  yet  I 
believe  that  our  brethren  of  Baltimore  themselves  could  hardly 
hesitate  in  conceding  that  higher  interests  are  at  stake  among 
us  than  among  them.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  design,  should 
it  meet  your  approbation,  and  that  of  the  congregation,  I  shall 
lend  you  all  the  assistance  in  my  power." 

These  things  led  to  a  correspondence  of  which  part  must  be 
given  : — 

TO  THE   REV.  DR.  MASON. 

Baltimore,  April  1,  1820. 

My  Dear  Uncle  :  Your  kind  letter  has  been  received.  Its 
principal  subject  is  one  on  which  I  have  thought  more  than 
once.  This,  however,  I  would  not  readily  confess,  if  it  had 
originated  with  myself.  I  have  been  accustomed  to  hints  and 
reports  springing  up  in  various  quarters,  though  I  supposed  you 
were  utterly  ignorant  of  them ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
plan  now  either  commencing  or  ripening  can  exceed  in  length 
or  breadth  the  hints  I  have  received.  My  friends  have  ex- 
pressed opinions  which  I  never  have  had  vanity  enough  to 
make  my  own;  or  if  I  had,  I  should  be  deficient  in  spirit  and 

ably  in  the  discussiou  of  the  text,  when  he  sudilenlj^  stopped.  His  recollection 
had  failed  ;  he  made  several  efforts  to  recall  his  train  of  thought,  but  in  vain. 
He  stated  that  he  had  never  presumed  to  serve  his  Master  with  what  had  cost 
him  nought,  and  that  he  could  not  accuse  himself  of  neglect  in  preparing  him- 
self for  the  occasion.  The  Providence,  he  said,  was  mysterious,  and  was  one  of 
those  events  which,  though  not  understood  now,  he  would  understand  hereafter. 
The  Rev.  John  Dunlap,  of  Cambridge,  preached  in  the  afternoon,  and  in  intro- 
ducing the  service,  observed  that  he  entered  the  pulpit  with  fear  and  trembling, 
when  he  reflected  on  the  occurrence  of  the  morning,  and  said,  "  If  these  things  are 
done  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  f 


512  MR.  Duncan's  answer. 

strength  ever  to  justify  them.  I  mention  these  things  merely 
to  account  for  any  familiarity  my  mind  may  have  with  the  sub- 
ject. During  the  month  of  December  last,  a  report  was  brought 
on  from  New  York,  and  most  sedulously  circulated  here,  that 
in  consequence  of  your  ill  health,  my  removal  from  this  place 
was  contemplated,  and  would  shortly  take  place.  It  was  be- 
lieved by  a  great  many ;  applicants  were  deterred  from  taking 
seats  in  our  house  of  worship;  the  revenue  was  injured;  the 
trustees  were  alarmed ;  and  I  was  obliged,  both  publicly  and 
privately,  to  state  that  the  report  was  unfounded,  and  that  I 
had  no  intention  of  removing.  In  private,  I  was  even  more 
explicit — stating  that  I  felt  myself  in  the  very  situation  which 
Providence  had  designed  for  me,  where  He  had  made  me  use- 
ful, had  surrounded  me  by  the  seals  of  my  own  ministry  ;  had 
even  introduced  some  of  them  into  the  Session ;  had  given  me 
an  influence  in  this  city  which  even  my  enemies  felt;  and  that 
I  had  seen  the  Master's  displeasure  follow  those  who  forsook  a 
situation  so  strongly  marked.  Such  things  I  have  unhesitatingly 
said,  because  they  were  then  precisely  my  opinions,  and  they 
still  are  so. 

But  familiar  as  I  was  thus  forced  to  be  with  this  subject,  and 
though  my  opinions  were  neither  hastily  nor  rashly  formed,  yet 
your  letter  agitated  me  deeply.  I  was  almost  sorry  that  I  had 
gone  to  New  York.  I  did  not  suppose  that  mj^-  visit  would  have 
resulted  thus.  I  had  hoped  that  the  congregation  of  Murray 
Street  were  apprized  of  what  I  had  publicly  done,  I  really  went 
on  with  the  pure  intention  of  seeing  you.  Nothing  else  could 
have  taken  me  from  home.  My  heart  hangs  so  much  upon 
you,  that  I  could  not  be  satisfied  without  seeing  you.  But  could 
I  have  suspected  an  issue  so  important  to  your  feelings  and 
mine,  I  believe  I  should  have  felt  myself  in  duty  bound  to  re- 
main at  home. 

■  I  fully  appreciate,  my  dear  Uncle,  the  comfort  and  advan- 
tages I  should  have  in  such  a  connexion  with  you,  as  long  as  it 
should  please  Divine  Providence  to  preserve  us  together,  and  as 
long  as  I  could  hold  your  esteem  for  whatever  talents  I  may 
have,  as  well  as  your  warm  affection  for  me  as  your  nephew. 
I  know  the  general  advantages  of  New  York  above  Baltimore 
in  a  religious  point  of  view.     But  when  I  look  round  upon  this 


CONCLUDES  TO  LEAVE  THE  PULPIT.         513 

desolate  place,  and  remember  what  of  its  general  interests  have 
been  connected  with  my  ministry,  how  can  I  forsake  it?  When 
I  view  the  many  children  "  whom  the  Lord  hath  given  me," 
how  can  I  leave  them  ? 

I  know  you  can  appreciate  all  these  circumstances.  Though 
not  hasty  in  my  opinions,  I  am  willing  to  hear  whatever  can  be 
said  to  alter  them,  and  shall  wait  your  visit.  I  write  immedi- 
ately, because  I  am  satisfied  you  did  not  know  that  I  had  com- 
mitted myself,  and  because  by  knowing  my  precise  views,  you 
might  prevent  the  call  from  going  too  far.  I  wish  Murray  Street 
well;  and  thought  until  yesterday  that  they  had  another  ob- 
ject, and  felt  pleased  that  you  and  I  would  have  been  spared 
the  feelings  we  shall  now  have  to  suffer. 

With  the  warmest  regard, 

Your  affectionate  nephew, 

JOHN  M.  DUNCAN. 

Some  time  after  this,  having  derived  no  substantial  benefit 
from  the  remedies  employed,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
must  relinquish  preaching,  and  ask  to  be  released  from  his 
charge.  This  purpose  with  its  reasons  he  committed  to  paper, 
intending  after  a  more  mature  deliberation,  to  communicate  it 
to  his  people.  "The  cause,  indeed,"  he  tells  them,  "is  my  in- 
firmity, not,  I  trust,  my  fault.  The  holy  hand  of  God  lies  upon 
me,  and  through  me  upon  you.  His  dispensations  are  all  wise 
and  just  and  good  ;  nor  is  it  for  us  to  repine  at  them.  But  the 
use  of  proper  means  to  mitigate  or  remove  our  afflictions,  is  not 
repining.  So  far  as  depends  upon  me,  I  cannot  consent  that 
yours  should  be  any  longer  protracted.  I  know  well  your  pa- 
tience and  kindness.  I  have  had  many  expressions  of  them  ; 
and  latterly,  your  sympathizing  endurance  of  my  mutilated  ser- 
vices on  the  Lord's  day  ;  your  willingness  and  even  eagerness 
rather  to  shut  up  your  sanctuary,  than  run  any  hazard  of  op- 
pressing me,  comes  home  to  my  heart  with  an  appeal  which  is 
very  sensibly  felt,  and  will,  I  hope,  be  long  most  gratefully  re- 
membered. But,  my  dear  friends,  this  very  kindness  of  yours, 
while  it  draws  closer  all  the  cords  of  affection,  stimulates  me  to 
attempt  your  relief.  Time  enough  has  been  employed  upon  an 
experiment  to  render  any  further  expectations  of  advantage 
33 


514  DEATH   OF  AN   INFANT, 

from  its  issue  either  comfortable  or  reasonable.  Under  these 
circumstances,  I  think  it  my  duty,  in  correspondence  with  .the 
best  medical  opinion,  to  retire  from  the  pulpit.  My  design 
therefore,  my  dear  friends,  is  to  demit  my  pastoral  charge  into 
the  hands  of  the  Presbytery  at  their  approaching  meeting.  The 
measure  is  indeed  like  tearing  the  flesh  from  m}  bones ;  but  it  is 
all  that  is  left  for  me  to  do." 

Though  at  this  period  the  manual  labour  of  writing  was  to 
him  in  no  small  degree  irksome,  yet  an  ocsasional  letter  to  his 
friends  gave  utterance  to  his  thoughts  and  feelings  respecting 
them.     Only  two  of  them  will  be  here  given  : — 

TO  DR.  CHALMERS. 

New  York,  April  9th,  1821. 

Eeverend  and  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  not  hitherto  told  you  how 
much  I  was  refreshed  and  admonished,  prompted  and  edified, 
by  the  volume  of  sermons  preached  in  the  Tron  church  at 
Glasgow,  which  you  did  me  the  favour  to  send  me.  You  are 
still  going  on,  I  see,  in  the  same  glorious  career,  bringing  the 
truths  and  principles  of  Christianity  to  bear  upon  the  conduct 
of  common  life.  May  your  course  be  as  long  continued  as  it 
has  hitherto  been  distinguished.  I  cannot  requite  you  by  an 
exchange ;  but  I  do  something  towards  gratifying  your  social 
disposition,  by  recommending  the  bearer,  Mr.  J.  Q.  J.,  to  your 
kind  regards.  I  trust  you  will  never  remember  them  with  re- 
gret. Mr.  J.  carries  with  him  a  treasure,  which,  though  not 
omnipotent  on  'Change,  you  know  how  to  appreciate:  he  is 
rich  in  character. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

TO  MRS.  CATHARINE  V.  V.,  SCHENECTADY. 

New  York,  August  8th,  1821. 

My  Dear  Daughter:  We  have  just  received  Jacob's  two 
letters  concerning  your  little  daughter.  She  was  removed  before 
I  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  her.  You,  my  dear,  have 
hitherto  been  the  child  of  indulgence.  Your  Heavenly  Father 
added  comfort  to  comfort.     He  commanded  you  to  sing  con- 


CALL   FROM   DICKINSON   COLLEGE  515 

tinually  of  mercy.  He  has  now  sent  judgment^  and  his  blessed 
will  is  that  you  sing  of  that  too.  It  is  well  observed  by  Jacob, 
that  we  do  not  know  what  blessings  are  in  the  cup.  No  ;  we 
do  not  know  ;  but  as  Christians  we  can  trust.  Walk  by  faith 
in  this  step  so  dark,  and  so  painful  to  flesh  and  blood.  All 
shall  be  revealed  in  due  season.  In  the  mean  time  hold  fast 
the  firm  assurance — "  Yea,  the  Lord  will  give  that  which  is 
good.''''  Believe  it  though  your  heart  tremble.  Believe  it 
though  your  eyes  overflow  with  tears.  Eemember  who  has  said 
"The  cup  which  my  Father  giveth,  shall  I  not  drink  it?"  Oh' 
he  drank  it,  and  turned  all  our  cups  into  cups  of  salvation. 
Whatever  the  Lord  may  do  with  others,  He  has  made  it  the 
privilege  of  His  people  to  believe  for  the  eternal  life  of  their 
children.  Now  comes  the  kernel  of  that  promise — "I  will  be 
thy  God,  and  the  God  of  thy  seecZ."  It  is  enough.  "  Bless  the 
Lord,  0  my  soul !" 

You  have  your  mother's  and  your  sister's  sympathy.  I  am 
commissioned  to  say  so.  You  know  you  have  it  from  the 
inmost  heart  of  your  affectionate  father, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Before  the  time  fixed  for  resigning  his  charge,  Dr.  Mason 
received  an  invitation  to  become  President  of  Dickinson  College, 
at  Carlisle.  Overtures  of  a  similar  nature  from  other  institu- 
tions had  been  made  to  him  at  different  times  before ;  but  to 
none  of  them  (except  that  from  Columbia  College),  had  he 
given  any  encouragement.  To  the  present  however  he  imme- 
diately replied  that  he  felt  favourably  inclined.  "  It  will  em- 
ploy me  usefully,"  he  said,  "  in  a  work  to  which  I  find  myself 
adequate,  but  which  will  not  oppress  me."  It  was  accordingly 
accepted  ;  and  in  December,  1821,  he  removed  to  Carlisle.  The 
College,  which  had  for  several  years  been  entirely  suspended, 
was  revived,  students  in  very  encouraging  numbers  flocked  in 
from  various  parts  of  the  country,  besides  those  which  accom- 
panied him  from  New  York;  and  assisted  as  he  was  by  the  able 
faculty  whom  he  had  selected,  he  had  the  prospect  of  spending 
the  remnant  of  his  days  at  the  head  of  a  prosperous  institution. 
After  some  months  of  successful  labour,  however,  his  sky  was 
again  overspread  with  clouds  by  an  accident  that  crippled  him 


516  A   SORE   BEREAVEMENT. 

for  life.  By  a  severe  fall  he  fractured  the  neck  of  his  thigh 
bone.  This  laid  him  up  for  a  long  time,  and  subjected  him  to 
much  suffering,  which  doubtless  aggravated  those  effects  of  his 
former  disease  from  which  he  had  not  yet  recovered. 

Afflictions  from  other  sources  also  awaited  him.  He  had 
always  been  remarkably  favoured  with  regard  to  the  health 
and  prospects  of  his  children.  He  has  been  heard  to  say,  "  It  has 
pleased  my  Divine  Master  to  send  me  various  trials,  but  he  has 
spared  me  in  my  domestic  relations.  He  knows  that  is  a  quarter 
in  which  I  could  not  sustain  them."  At  length,  however,  he  was 
afflicted  in  this  quarter  also ;  and  sustained  beyond  his  antici- 
pation. During  a  visit  to  New  York,  in  August,  1822,  he  was 
met  by  the  heavy  tidings  of  the  death  of  a  beloved  child,  Mrs. 
Van  Vechten,  residing  at  Schenectady.  The  stroke  was  to  him 
sudden  and  overwhelming.  And  though  she  had  departed  in 
the  fullness  of  Gospel  hope,  his  soul  was  bowed  down,  and 
wrung  with  anguish.  His  utterances  of  grief  on  the  occasion 
were  singularly  striking,  and  proceeded  from  the  very  innermost 
depths  of  a  wounded  spirit.  As  they  were  not  noted  down  at 
the  time,  the  traces  of  them,  after  more  than  thirty  years,  are 
too  imperfect  to  be  now  recorded.  The  only  written  memorial 
of  his  feelings,  is  a  letter  of  condolence,  which  he  wrote  with 
difficulty  to  his  son-in-law  : — 

TO  THE  REV.  J.  V.  V.,  SCHENECTADY. 

New  York,  August  9,  1822, 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Need  I  tell  you  that  I  sympathise  with  you  ? 
The  heart  of  a  father  over  his  daughter  responds  to  every  moan 
of  a  husband's  heart  for  his  beloved  wife.  Yes,  my  dear  Sir, 
she  is  removed  from  both  of  us  !  But  though  nature  grieves, 
grace  will  triumph.  The  eye  of  faith  never  shines  with  more 
lustre  than  when  it  is  seen  through  nature's  sorrows.  But 
what  shall  we  say  ?  It  is  the  Lord  ;  and  shall  he  not  do  what 
he  will  with  h.\s  own  P  Oh,  she  ivas  his  own  past  all  perad ven- 
ture !  manifestlij  his  own  !  The  proof,  as  you  know  better  than 
any  other  human  Being,  was  written,  ''not  with  ink,  but  with 
the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  ;  not  on  tables  of  stone,  but  on  the 
fleshly  tables  of  the  heart,"  If  a  repining  or  discontented 
thought  stir  in  my  heart,  I  am  instantly  rebuked  by  that  prayer 
of  our  great  High  Priest,  "  Father,  I  will  that  those  whom  thou 


GREATLY   COMFORTED.  517 

hast  given  me,  be  with  vie,  where  I  am,  to  behold  my  glory." 
The  Lord  Jesus  was  praying,  that  our  dear  Catharine  should 
be  with  him.  He  was  heard !  Would  you  wish  that  your 
Lord  should  be  refused  amj  request?  He  knew  that  it  would 
fill  our  hearts  with  anguish  and  our  eyes  with  tears ;  yet  he 
prayed  for  it.  Now  then  we  have  strong  claim  upon  his  love- 
If  any  earthly  event  would  try  the  quality  of  your  religion,  this 
will  do  it.  O  Jacob,  my  son,  we  have  so  much  cause  for  thank- 
fulness and  praise,  that  nature's  voice  is  almost  stifled.  I  adore 
my  gracious  God  that  I  had  such  a  daughter  to  yield  to  his 
call.  Do  you  not  adore  him  that  you  had  such  a  wife  to  give 
up?  Our  sweet  Catharine  is  with  the  Kesurrection  and  the 
Life.  Are  you  sorry  for  that ?  Her  conflict  is  over;  her  race 
is  run  ;  no  more  trouble  now  from  sin  or  pain.  Are  you  sorry 
for  that?  Dear  Lord  Jesus  our  hearts  bow  ;  they  kiss  the  rod 
because  it  is  thine.  In  their  desolation,  they  seek  that  repose 
and  comfort  which  thou  only  canst  bestow !  May  he,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself,  comfort  and  support  you  by  his  spirit  of 
consolation  ;  and  enable  you  to  say,  "  He  hath  done  all  things 
well.  He  hath  fulfilled  his  word  unto  his  servant  to  give  that 
which  is  good."  For  it  stands  upon  eternal  record,  and  re- 
joice in  it,  0!  son  of  grief,  that  "all  things  shall  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God." 

Your  mother  is  much  bowed  down,  but  she  bows  like  a  Christ- 
ian. Oh,  how  she  loved  your  Catharine  !  She  is  the  bearer  of 
this  letter.  Her  heart  yearns  over  your  motherless  babes. 
Sooth  her  spirit  by  permitting  one  of  them  to  accompany  her 
home.  I  wished  to  have  seen  you  my&elf,  but  my  broken  thigh 
bone  could  hardly  stand  the  jolting  of  the  stage.  The  paralytic 
affection  still  lurks  about  my  frame;  and  I  dreaded  the  effect  of 
violent  agitation  of  mind.  I  submit  to  necessity  and  stay  be- 
hind. Now  the  God  of  peace  comfort,  settle,  strengthen,  stab- 
lish  you  !  Make  your  ministry  more  humble,  tender,  and  suc- 
cessful !~-Enable  you  to  walk  more  closely  after  your  Lord! — 
Call  your  name  "  Barnabas,  a  son  of  consolation,"  from  your 
abundantly  comforting  others  with  the  consolation  wherewith 
your  own  soul  has  been  comforted  of  God. 

Yours  in  the  bonds  of  nature,  grace,  and  afiection, 

J.  M.  MASON. 


518  DEATH  OF  HIS  SON  JAMES. 

Still  another  very  heavy  stroke  awaited  him.  In  the  month  of 
November,  of  the  same  year,  his  son,  James  Hall,  a  youth  of 
most  sterling  character,  and  great  promise,  was  seized  with  a 
fever,  and  sank  under  it.  Now  more  than  ever  was  he  bowed 
to  the  earth,  and,  though  sustained  by  the  firmest  hopes  of  re- 
ligion, could  scarcely  be  comforted.  On  the  the  removal  of  the 
corse  at  the  funeral,  the  pressure  of  his  feelings  forced  from  him 
this  solemn  address  to  the  bearers,  "Tread  lightly,  young  men, 
tread  lightly ;  you  carry  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

The  students  of  the  College  with  scarcely  an  exception  were 
deeply  affected  by  the  event ;  and  it  was  followed  by  an  ex- 
tensive revival  of  religion.  In  this  Dr.  Mason  took  a  deep  in- 
terest, and  regarded  it  as  a  genuine  work  of  the  Spirit.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  converts  consecrated  themselves  to  the  labours 
of  the  ministrj'-,  and  a  number  of  them  have  become  eminent  in 
their  office.  His  removal  to  Carlisle  seemed  like  a  mission 
ordered  by  an  inscrutable  and  beneficent  Providence  for  a 
special  purpose.  As  has  been  beautifully  said,  "It  was  the 
twilight  of  a  bright  and  radiant  day — the  closing  service  of  a 
life  of  unwonted  energy  and  usefulness." 

If  such  gracious  dispensations  are  valuable  to  the  community 
at  large,  with  what  peculiar  satisfaction  do  they  come  home  to 
the  hearts  of  pious  parents  and  guardians !  More  than  one  of 
them  took  occasion  to  express  their  views  on  this  subject : — 

TO  THE    KEY.    DR.    MASON,    CARLISLE. 

Danville,  January  16th,  1823. 

Dear  Sir  :  It  is  with  feelings  of  joy  and  gratitude  of  no  or- 
dinary kind,  that  information  has  reached  us  that  a  revival  of 
religion  has  taken  place  in  Dickinson  College  ;  and  particularly 
that  my  son  Samuel  has  afforded  some  hopes  of  having  become 
a  subject  of  it. 

I  need  not  mention  to  you,  Sir,  the  pleasure  which  these 
things  must  have  produced  in  your  mind,  affording  no  small 
consolation  for  the  loss  of  a  beloved  son — whose  lamented 
death,  and  the  solemnities  of  whose  funeral,  were  applied  by 
the  Spirit  of  promise  to  the  hearts  of  such  a  goodly  number  of 
the  students.  I  am  happy  to  hear  that  the  impression  has  been 
followed  up  by  suitable  instruction,  so  peculiarlj'"  necessary  at 
a  time  of  so  serious  an  awakening.     To  be  instrumental  in  pre- 


TRIBUTES   OF   GRATITUDE.  519 

paring  so  many  young  men  for  the  Gospel  ministry,  is  at  any 
time  a  pleasing  service ;  but  when  you  can  send  them  forth 
with  strong  evidence  of  their  genuine  piety,  it  is  particularly 
gratifying. 

I  trust  the  Lord  will  carry  on  his  own  work,  until  not  only 
the  College,  but  the  town  and  neighbourhood,  shall  accept  the 
offers  of  peace  and  salvation. 

With  sincere  esteem  I  am,  Dear  Sir,  your  friend, 

WILLIAM  MONTGOMERY. 

TO  THE    REV.  DR.  MASON,  CARLISLE. 

City  of  Washington,  July  29th,  1823. 

Eev.  AND  Dear  Sir:  It  was  with  a  peculiar  feeling  of 
grateful  recollections  that  I  read  your  kind  letter.  I  may  truly 
say  that,  although  years  have  passed  since  I  had  that  pleasure, 
or  a  personal  interview,  yet  frequently  Mrs.  Nourse  and  myself 
have  reverted  to  that  time,  when  we  were  occasionally  favoured 
with  your  intercourse  and  ministry.  Your  kindness  to  my 
nephew  James,  the  son  of  my  brother  Michael,  I  thankfully 
acknowledge,  and  trust  that  he  will  not  prove  unworthy  of 
your  notice. 

Should  I  ever  see  my  respected  and  dear  friend  face  to  face, 
I  could  not  refrain  from  telling  him  the  sense  I  have  of  the 
great  obligations  I  am  under  to  him  for  all  his  kindness,  of 
which  I  shall  have  an  increasing  feeling  from  an  increase  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  ever  blessed  Gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  An  interview  would  indeed  refresh  my  spirit. 
Mrs.  Nourse  and  mj^self  partake  of  a  comfortable  degree  of 
health,  and  your  wishes  that  our  souls  may  prosper  under 
the  God  of  all  grace  are,  I  trust,  in  some  degree  realized  by 
Him  who  maketh  all  things  new,  in  bringing  old  truths  to  our 
remembrance  with  a  fresh  savour  of  loue  to  his  name.  We 
hope  you  will  ere  long  pay  Washington  a  visit.  We  join 
together  in  best  respects  and  affectionate  remembrances,  being, 
my  reverend  and  dear  friend. 

Truly  yours, 

JOSEPH   NOURSE. 

Under  the  pressure  of  his  infirmities,  increased  by  the  vari- 
ous afflictions  referred  to  above,  Dr.  Mason  came  to  the  conclu- 


520  RESIGNS   THE   PRESIDENCY. 

sion  that  necessity  was  laid  upon  him  to  become  released  from 
every  public  burden.  He  accordingly  gave  notice  to  the  trus- 
tees as  early  as  April,  1824,  that  he  should  at  the  end  of  the 
year  resign  the  of&ce  to  which  they  had  called  him,  thus  giving 
them' ample  time  to  provide  a  successor.  "The  effect  of  my 
former  visitation,"  he  wrote  to  them,  "has  not  left  me.  The 
lameness  also  occasioned  by  my  accident,  I  had  hoped  would 
have  been  healed  long  ere  this;  but  it  effectually  prevents 
those  active  services  which  I  have  been  solicitous  to  perform- 
In  these  circumstances,  gentlemen,  you  will  not  be  surprised  if 
I  say  that  I  feel  myself  admonished  that  it  is  time  for  me  to  re- 
tire from  public  life,  and  that  I  intend  to  withdraw.  I  should 
do  injustice  to  my  own  feelings,  in  this  perhaps  last  oflScial 
communication  which  I  may  be  called  to  make,  did  I  omit  the 
present  opportunity  of  cordially  thanking  you  for  all  your  cour- 
tesy and  friendship  to  me  personally,  and  to  express  my  wish 
and  prayer  that  both  you  and  yours  may  continue  to  increase 
in  favour  with  God  and  man." 

In  consequence  of  the  above  notice,  the  trustees  adopted 
measures  for  securing  the  services  of  a  successor,  in  which  they 
at  length  succeeded.  This  was  made  known  in  the  following 
communication  from  a  committee  of  the  trustees  to  Dr.  Ma- 
son:— 

Carlisle,  Aug.  19,  1824. 

Dear  Sir  :  We  are  requested  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Dickinson  College  to  apprize  you  of  the  election  of  Dr.  Neil,  of 
Philadelphia,  as  Principal  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by 
your  resignation,  and  that  his  duties  will  commence  on  the  first 
day  of  September,  the  beginning  of  the  next  term. 

We  cannot  omit  on  this  occasion  to  express  the  sensibility 
evinced  by  the  Board  in  realizing  your  separation  from  us. 
They  only  acceded  to  it  as  a  measure  proceeding  from  your 
own  desire.  Permit  us  to  add  an  assurance  that  wherever  you 
shall  be,  you  will  have  the  affectionate  regard  of  the  Trustees, 
and  their  warmest  wishes  for  your  happiness  and  prosperity. 

We  beg  leave  personally  to  tender  to  you  the  tribute  of  our 
great  respect  and  esteem. 

JOHN  B.  GIBSON, 

JOHN  REED,  )■  Committee. 

GEORGE  DUFFIELD,  Jb. 


RETURNS  TO  NEW   YORK.  521 

To  this  note  the  following  answer  was  immediately  re- 
turned:— 

Carlisle,  August  22,  1824. 

Gentlemen:  I  was  favoured  last  evening  with  your  note  of 
the  19th  instant,  apprizing  me  of  "the  election  of  Dr.  Neil,  of 
Philadelphia,  as  Principal  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  my 
resignation." 

I  am  very  peculiarly  gratified  by  the  spirit  of  kindness  and 
affection  breathed  in  your  note,  and  showing  that  we  have  no 
unkind  emotion  at  parting.  If  anything  can  render  it  pleasant, 
it  must  be  sentiments  like  those  which  you  have  been  good 
enough  to  express. 

It  is  to  me  a  source  of  peculiar  satisfaction  that  the  Trustees 
have  been  enabled  to  procure  a  gentleman  of  Dr.  Neil's  stand- 
ing, under  whom  it-  will  be  my  happiness  to  hear  that  Dickin- 
son thrives  in  number  and  character ;  and  that  she  raises  her 
head  high  amiong  the  seminaries  of  the  land. 

With  every  consideration  of  respect  and  esteem, 

Your  servant, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

Before  the  end  of  the  year,  he  moved  back  to  his  native  city, 
where  in  the  midst  of  his  surviving  children  and  early  friends, 
he  spent  the  remnant  of  his  days. 

One  of  his  last  letters,  which,  being  writtten  with  a  tremulous 
hand,  must  have  cost  him  considerable  effort,  was  prompted  by  a 
deep  feeling  of  regard  for  the  memory  of  a  pious  friend  in  Lon- 
don, whose  worthy  name,  already  familiar  to  the  readers  of 
these  pages,  he  wished  to  ingraft  and  perpetuate  among  his 
relatives  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic— a  wish  which  of  course 
could  not  be  denied.  A  copy  of  this  letter  will  not  be  deemed 
an  unsuitable  portion  of  the  present  chapter  : — 

TO    REV.  J.  V.  v.,  SCHENECTADY. 

New  York,  April  23,  1829. 

My  Dear  Sir:  My  heart  was  gladdened  yesterday  by  a 
letter  from  Sarah,  announcing  the  birth  of  a  son.  May  the 
blessing  of  the  glorious  Giver,  accompany  the  gift ;  and  ena- 
ble you  to  preserve  and  rear  him  up  for  God  !  And  may  he 
keep  him  by  his  grace  for  his  heavenly  kingdom ! 


522  HIS   LAST   PUBLIC   SERVICE. 

I  hear  you  are  somewhat  at  a  loss  for  a  name.  The  difficulty 
comes  just  in  time.  For  years  I  have  resolved,  if  the  Lord 
should  give  me  opportunity,  to  transplant  the  name  of  that 
saint  of  his  into  my  family — Joseph  Hardcastle.  I  rejoice  that 
the  opportunity  has  come  at  last,  and  hope  I  may  not  be  too 
late  in  my  application.  Let  Joseph  Hardcastle  then  be  his 
name  of  nobility.  I  trust  that  Mrs.  Yan  Yechten  will  not 
object.  No  name  do  I  more  honour  on  earth,  and  may  his 
graces  go  with  it  !  No  fairer  name  can  she  find  among 
the  sons  of  men.  It  will  be  a  crown  of  permanent  glory  to 
her  son,  in  exact  proportion  as  he  is  enabled  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  him  whose  name  he  shall  bear. 

My  best  love  to  Mrs.  Yan  Yechten.  Grace,  mercy  and  peace 
be  to  her,  and  to  her  seed,  from  God  the  Father,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ !  Let  her  remember,  that  if  her  children  are 
called  soon^  it  is  generally  in  answer  to  their  mother's  prayers ; 
and  let  her  pray  accordingly.  Grace  be  with  you,  my  dear 
Jacob.  Your  affectionate  father, 

J.  M.  MASON. 

The  only  public  service  in  which,  during  this  period  he  offi- 
ciated, was  in  baptizing  a  child  of  his  successor.  Dr.  Snodgrass. 
On  that  occasion,  he  is  said  to  have  ministered  with  so  much 
of  his  former  majesty  and  evangelical  unction,  as  very  affect- 
ingly  to  remind  his  hearers  of  what  he  had  been,  and  melted 
them  to  tears  ;  and  yet  with  so  much  difficulty  and  imperfec- 
tion as  convinced  them  that  his  mighty  powers  were  perma- 
nently impaired.  There  were  indeed  times  when  he  thought 
himself  well  enough  to  preach  a  sermon,  but  his  friends  dis- 
suaded him  from  it.  He  regularly  attended  worship  in  the 
Murray  Street  Church,  and  expressed  in  strong  terms  his  satis- 
faction with  the  preaching  and  privileges  which  he  there  en- 
joyed. Though  he  had  ceased  to  mingle  in  society,  he  took  an 
interest  in  passing  events,  especially  in  the  movements  of  our 
benevolent  institutions.  The  progress  of  the  Bible  Society 
afforded  him  peculiar  pleasure.  He  also  took  pleasure  in  the 
calls  of  his  friends.  On  such  occasions  he  would  sometimes 
through  a  happy  association  waken  up  to  a  very  vivid  recollec- 
tion of  past  scenes  and  past  transactions,  so  as  almost  by  a  re- 
newed consciousness  to  enjoy  them  over  again  ;  but  soon  his 


THE   CLOSING   SCEKE.  523 

returning  lassitude  showed  that  he  had  not  sufficient  energy  to 
sustain  such  things  for  any  length  of  time.  Yery  few  books 
interested  him,  except  the  Bible.  This  he  felt  to  be  his  treas- 
ure and  delight.  Indeed,  his  thoughts  habitually  ran  in  the 
direction  of  its  consoling  truths.  He  continued  till  near  the 
last  to  conduct  the  worship  of  his  family  morning  and  evening, 
and  generally  with  almost  as  much  clearness  and  pathos  as  had 
been  usual  in  his  better  days.  Sometimes  indeed  his  sun  would 
seem  to  break  through  all  the  clouds  which  involved  him,  and 
to  shine  forth  with  his  former  power  and  s|)lendour  ;  but  such 
seasons  were  short,  and  occurred  but  seldom.  He  finally 
closed  his  eyes  in  peace  at  half-past  eight  o'clock  of  Sabbath 
morning,  Dec.  26,  1829,  in  the  60tli  year  of  his  age,  being  three 
years  older  than  his  father  was  at  the  time  of  his  death.  As  the 
crisis  approached,  a  friend  remarked  to  him  that  there  was  but 
one  source  of  consolation  in  his  trying  condition  ;  "  Yes,"  said 
he  emphatically,  "there  is  but  one  source  of  consolation,  but 
that  is  enough P''  When  asked,  "Is  Jesus  the  Saviour  precious 
to  you  ?"  ^^ He  is,  he  is  .^"  was  his  reply.  And  these  were  among 
the  last  distinctly  articulated  words  which  he  uttered. 


CHAPTEK    XL. 

CONCLUSION. 

Dr.  Mason  in  his  Person — In  his  Family — IntlieChamberof  Sickness— In  General 
Society — Among  his  Theological  Sudents— In  the  Pulpit — In  relation  to  certain 
cotemporary  Preachers — His  great  achievement. 

A  FEW  things  of  ratber  a  general  nature,  which  could  not  well 
be  introduced  before,  must  jet  be  added. 

In  his  funeral  sermon.  Dr.  Snodgrass  remarked  :  "  He  was 
altogether  of  a  inoxQ  princely  mould  than  the  majority  of  even 
great  men  who  were  brought  into  competition  with  him  upon 
the  theatre  of  action." 

From  this  language  few  will  dissent  who  knew  Dr.  Mason  in 
the  days  of  his  maturity  and  health.  His  presence  was  at  once 
portly  and  pleasing.  Any  stranger  would  be  struck  by  it;  and 
in  no  company  could  he  long  be  seen  without  attracting  atten- 
tion. His  appearance  on  horseback  has  often  elicited  the  re- 
mark, that  "  he  would  have  made  a  most  noble  commander  of 
an  army."  The  remark  was  applicable  not  only  to  the  physi- 
cal, but  to  the  intellectual  man ;  to  his  bold  conceptions  and 
high  daring;  to  his  energy  and  resolution  ;  and  to  the  enthusi- 
asm which  he  was  capable  of  infasing  into  multitudes. 

His  stature  was  about  six  feet ;  his  forehead  was  high,  his 
brow  strong,  his  eyes  deep  blue,  the  contour  of  his  face  oval,  all  its 
features  regular,  and  in  their  combination  remarkably  expressive 
of  thought,  feeling,  and  courage.  He  was  always  neat,  though  plain 
in  his  apparel ;  and  dignified,  though  easy  in  his  manners. 

In  his  family,  he  was  cheerful,  affectionate  and  happ3^  Every 
thing  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  regularity.  Exactness 
and  order  were  an  invariable  law  of  the  house,  to  which  every 
inmate  soon  learned  to  conform.  The  rules  of  propriety  and 
decorum  were  also  universally  observed.     Nor  was  there  anv- 


FAMILY   CUSTOMS.  525 

thing  like  difficulty  or  constraint  in  such  observances.  All  of 
them,  by  a  little  attention  and  care,  soon  ripened  into  habits 
which  seemed  almost  spontaneous.  Never  was  there  a  better 
illustration  of  the  facility  with  which  household  affairs  can  be 
brought  to  move  in  exact  harmony  by  the  establishment  of  sys- 
tem and  punctuality.  The  Doctor  himself  afforded  an  eminent 
example  of  what  he  required  from  those  around  him. 

His  family  worship  and  instruction,  likewise,  without  doubt, 
contributed  to  this  result.  It  was  his  custom  to  have  the  whole 
household  together  morning  and  evening,  for  uniting  in  devo- 
tional exercises.  On  these  occasions  it  was  usual,  besides 
prayer,  to  read  a  portion  of  Scripture  and  to  sing  a  few  lines 
from  House's  version  of  the  Psalms.  To  these  he  added,  in  the 
morning,  religious  instruction  to  the  children  and  servants. 
The  former  particularly,  according  to  their  ages,  were  required 
to  recite  two  verses  from  the  Bible,  and  portions  of  the  West- 
minster Catechisms  and  Confession  of  Faith,  with  proofs  attached 
and  explained,  every  day,  except  Sabbaths,  when  they  merely 
reviewed  what  had  been  gone  over  during  the  previous  week. 
The  time  taken  in  these  morning  exercises  was  generally  about 
half  an  hour.  In  a  memorandum  of  reminiscences,  prepared  by 
Mrs.  Knox,  not  long  before  her  death,  she  says,  that  in  this 
manner  the  older  children  had  committed  to  memory  the  whole 
of  the  above  named  summaries,  together  with  their  proofs. 

She  farther  says:  "The  Sabbath  was  strictly  observed. 
There  was  no  visiting  of  any  kind,  except  when  sickness  re- 
quired it.  On  the  evening  of  that  day,  we  mentioned  the  texts 
or  lectures  of  the  day,  and  as  much  of  his  discourses  as  we 
could  recollect.  The  length  of  these  exercises  varied  as  he 
was  more  or  less  fatigued  with  the  duties  of  the  day."  To  this 
may  be  added,  that  he  endeavoured  to  make  the  Sabbath 
pleasant  in  his  family,  so  that  none  of  its  members  had  any 
dread  of  its  approach.  His  children  had  no  tasks  to  learn  on 
that  day,  and  his  servants  had  no  feasts  to  prepare.  To  both 
he  made  it  a  day  of  rest.  He  wished  them  to  regard  it  as 
sacred,  but  not  as  gloomy.  He  endeavoured  to  invest  it  with 
cheerfulness,  rather  than  austerity.  Generally  on  the  morning 
of  that  day  he  read  some  portion  of  the  Scriptures  relating  to 
the  resurrection  and  triumphs  of  the  Saviour,  and  endeavoured 


526  DAYS   OF   FASTING  AND   PEAYER. 

to  lead  the  thoughts  of  his  family  into  the  same  direction.  Thus 
he  at  once  sanctified  the  day,  and  made  it  welcome.  Thus  he 
gave  it  a  brighter  sun  than  that  of  other  days,  and  rendered  its 
appropriate  observances  more  inviting.  Without  abating  from 
its  solemnity,  he  increased  its  attractiveness.  This  method, 
doubtless,  had  its  share  of  influence  in  preparing  young  hearts 
for  the  joys  of  religion. 

Days  of  humiliation,  fasting  and  prayer,  when  properly  ap- 
pointed, were  very  particularly  observed  in  his  family.  Be- 
sides public  worship  and  abstinence  from  food,  he  engaged  on 
such  occasions  in  special  exercises  in  his  own  house  for  the 
spirituaFbenefit  of  his  children  and  domestics.  He  would  some- 
times take  them  one  by  one  alone  into  his  study  where  he  ad- 
dressed them  directly  on  their  personal  religion,  urging  them 
earnestly  and  affectionately  to  attend  without  delay  to  their 
eternal  interests,  pressing  them  to  take  refuge  in  the  only 
Saviour  provided  for  us,  and  cautioning  them  never  for  a  mo- 
ment to  stop  short  of  him.  Aware  of  the  extreme  danger  of 
resting  on  any  pillow  of  repose  before  coming  to  Christ,  and 
knowing  that  under  the  light  of  the  Gospel  there  could  be  no 
excuse  for  the  sin  of  delaying  to  exercise  a  true  living  faith  in 
this  Divine  Eedeeraer,  he  would  send  them  directly  to  Christ, 
as  revealed  in  the  Gospel,  and  not  first  recommend  any  such 
use  of  means  as  does  not  include  this  true  and  living  faith. 
After  such  conversation  and  prayer  with  each  one  of  them 
separatel}',  he  assembled  them  all  with  their  mother  in  the  par- 
lour, where  he  addressed  the  whole  family  together,  and  closed 
the  day  with  a  final  prayer.  An  occasion  like  this  could  not 
fail  of  drawing  forth  all  the  sensibilities  of  such  a  soul  as  Dr. 
Mason's,  or  of  leaving  any  dry  eyes  or  unmelted  hearts  among 
those  who  were  present.  A  particular  occasion  of  this  sort, 
was  many  years  afterwards  spoken  of  with  peculiar  interest  by 
more  than  one  of  those  who  were  present. 

If  an  infant  of  the  family  was  to  be  offered  up  in  baptism, 
he  endeavoured  to  improve  the  occasion  for  the  benefit  of  the 
children  who  were  old  enough  to  understand  the  meaning  and 
use  of  the  solemn  transaction. 

"I  remember,"  says  Mrs.  Knox,  "on  the  occasion  of  the 
baptism  of  one  of  the  younger  children — either  James  or  Ers- 


VISITING  THE   SICK.  527 

kine — his  taking  brother  John  and  myself  apart,  telling  us  that 
our  little  brother  Avas  to  be  baptized  that  afternoon  ;  that  we 
knew  what  it  meant ;  and  that  we  both  were  old  enough  to  go 
by  ourselves  and  pray  that  he  might  be  made  one  of  the  lambs 
of  Christ's  fold." 

As  might  be  expected  from  such  training,  he  had  the  great 
satisfiiction  of  seeing  all  his  children,  as  they  advanced  in  life, 
"walking  in  the  footsteps  of  the  flock;"  and  two  of  them 
preachers  of  the  Gospel.  Few  parents  have  been  more  emi- 
nently blessed  in  their  offspring.  To  this  may  be  added  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  several  of  his  servants  becoming  decidedly 
pious  under  his  roof 

In  visiting  the  sick,  his  soul  was  always  most  tenderly  and  deeply 
moved.  His  aim  was  to  bring  their  minds  at  once  to  the  es- 
sence of  evangelical  piety ;  that  is,  to  secure  their  union  and 
fellowship  with  the  Son  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  thus  to  cheer  them  with  the  bright  hopes  of  an  endless 
life.  An  occasion  of  this  kind  is  remembered,  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  most  felicitous  results.  A  gentleman  and  lady 
who  moved  in  the  prosperous  and  gay  circles  of  society,  and 
entertained  either  sceptical  or  very  erroneous  views  respecting 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  were  in  the  habit  of  attendino-  at 
his  place  of  worship.  They  were  doubtless  drawn  thither  more 
by  the  talents  and  eloquence  of  the  preacher  than  by  any  par- 
ticular regard  for  the  messages  which  he  brought.  The  lady 
fell  into  a  decline,  and  even  in  the  extremity  of  a  sinking  con- 
dition, remained  blind  to  the  reality  of  her  character  in  the 
sight  of  her  Almighty  Judge,  and  insensible  to  the  awfulness 
of  the  account  which  she  must  soon  render.  A  pious  friend 
however,  prevailed  upon  her  and  her  husband  to  send  for  their 
Pastor.  The  Doctor  went  and  soon  discovered  their  fearfully 
deluded  state  in  relation  to  God  and  eternity.  He  faithfully 
set  before  them  the  truth,  that  the  Gospel  contains  not  one 
word  of  comfort  for  any  beings  but  such  as  are  utterly  undone 
and  guilty  ;  and  that  there  was  no  possible  refuge  for  any  dy- 
ing creature  of  our  race,  but  in  the  atoning  death  and  sover- 
eign grace  of  that  Divine  Saviour  who  is  made  known  to  us  in 
the  Scriptures.  Deeply  affected  himself,  he  approached  God  in 
prayer  with  such  wrestling  and  prevailing  power  as  overwhelmed 


528  SOCIAL   INTERCOURSE. 

all  present.  He  returned  home  greatly  distressed  in  mind  for 
the  sufferer,  as  was  observed  by  the  family,  and  is  still  recol- 
lected with  distinctness  by  survivors.  A  day  or  two  after,  he 
was  again  called  in,  when  to  his  astonishment  and  unutterable 
joy  he  found  that  a  great  change  had  taken  place,  and  that  she 
had  been  enabled  with  cordiality  to  embrace  those  humbling 
but  precious  truths  which  he  had  presented  to  her  mind  ;  and 
that  she  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  such  peace  as  arises  from  re- 
posing unreservedly  upon  the  righteousness  and  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  When  at  length  she  closed  her  eyes  in 
death,  she  was  full  of  the  hope  inspired  by  her  new  views  of 
God  and  the  Saviour,  It  proved  likewise,  we  are  informed, 
the  introduction  of  evangelical  views  of  religion  in  a  leading 
family  of  a  neighbouring  state. 

In  general  society^  he  was  affable  and  pleasant.  Endowed 
with  unusual  colloquial  powers,  he  was  often  the  life  of  the  com- 
pany ;  and  always  contributed  his  full  share  to  its  pleasure  and 
its  profit.  Yet  he  never  usurped  an  undue  share  of  the  con- 
versation, but  uniformly  treated  all  present  with  courtesy,  and 
received  their  remarks  with  deference  and  respect.  He  was  no 
less  interesting  to  the  young  than  to  the  old  ;  to  the  literary  than 
to  the  religious.  Never  did  he  lodge  or  sojourn  in  the  house  of  a 
friend  without  making  himself  agreeable  to  all  its  inmates,  or 
without  being  received  there  ever  afterwards  as  a  most  wel- 
come guest. 

In  every  business  transaction  he  was  in  a  most  eminent  degree 
honourable  ahd  fair.  He  would  no  sooner  take  any  undue  ad- 
vantage of  a  man  than  commit  a  highway  robbery.  Never  would 
he  have  any  connexion  with  anything  sinister  or  concealed. 
His  statements  could  always  be  relied  upon  as  the  simple  verity. 
There  was  such  a  transparency  in  all  he  did  or  said  as  never  to 
give  occasion  for  the  inquiry  or  suspicion  whether  it  were  ex- 
actly so,  or  whether  anything  additional  or  different  were  in- 
tended. 

As  already  shown.  Dr.  Mason's  mode  of  instructing  his  theo- 
logical students  was  characterized  by  a  very  strong  desire  to 
form  their  minds  to  the  habit  of  investigating  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures for  themselves.  He  likewise  taught  them  systematic 
theology — taking  for  his  guide  the  Westminister  Confession  of 


THEOLOGICAL   SYSTEMS.  529 

Faith,  which  he  considered  the  best  defined  and  most  compre- 
hensive compendium  of  divine  truth  ever  produced.  He  taught 
them  to  state  doctrines  with  great  precision,  to  arrange  them  in 
their  proper  order,  and  to  support  them  by  appropriate  texts- 
He  had  no  objection  to  the  common  systems,  though  he  had 
little  patience  with  those  of  them  which  heaped  up  quota- 
tions and  strung  on  classes  argumeniorum  without  proper  regard 
to  their  real  bearing.  The  true  meaning  of  every  proof  text 
he  subjected  to  a  rigid  investigation,  and  loaded  none  with  a 
greater  burden  than  it  could  bear,  at  the  same  time  admitting 
with  candour  the  force  of  objections.  He  pitied  the  man  who 
could  say,  that  when  a  student,  he  had  learned  the  system  so 
perfectly  as  not  to  have  added  to  his  store  a  new  theological 
idea  for  thirty  years.  He  thought  no  minister  did  justice  to 
himself,  who  was  not  continually  making  progress.  He  expected 
no  addition  to  divine  revelation,  but  he  aimed  at  improvements 
in  the  art  of  developing  its  treasures.  He  expected  no  change 
in  those  great  cardinal  truths  which  are  fraught  with  salvation^ 
and  which  every  humble  believer  embraces  ;  but  he  looked  for 
progress  in  human  qualifications  for  exhibiting  and  defending 
them.  The  communes  foashould  be  well  understood,  as  they  easily 
may  be,  and  the  usual  texts  should  be  familiar  ;  but  that  public 
teacher  is  ill-furnished  for  this  work,  who  looks  no  further. 
Even  the  petrifactions  of  the  oldest  period  have  their  use  ;  but 
you  must  add  to  them  other  soil  and  other  seed,  if  you  wish  to 
make  the  garden  of  the  Lord  either  fruitful  or  fair. 

He  also  embraced  in  his  plan  an  outline  of  the  principles  of 
church  history;  but  thought  that  its  details  must  almost  neces- 
sarily be  left  to  private  reading.  The  composition  and  delivery  of 
sermons  commanded  a  large  share  of  attention.  But  after  all, 
his  chief  concern  was  with  the  Bible.  This  he  considered 
the  inexhaustible  fountain  from  whicli  his  pupils  must  learn 
to  draw  living  water.  It  required,  ho  thought,  a  critical  ac- 
quaintance with  the  languages  in  which  the  sacred  volume  had 
been  originally  written.  This  was  accordingly  one  of  his 
first  aims.  Indeed  he  always  lamented,  that  a  more  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages  could  not  be 
insisted  on  as  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  the  commencement  of 
34 


530  SELF-CULTIVATION. 

a  theological  course ;  and  if  it  could  have  been  so,  as  he  once 
proposed  in  the  Synod,  he  doubtless  would  have  witnessed,  in 
greater  number  and  in  greater  lustre,  the  triumphs  of  his  plan  ; 
the  full  benefit  of  which  required  a  better  preparation  at  the 
start.  As  it  was,  his  students,  with  few  exceptions,  became 
intensely  interested  in  their  pursuit.  He  had  a  talent  to  make 
every  subject  which  he  treated  attractive  ;  but  especially  did  he 
make  the  sacred  record  appear  richer  than  a  mine  of  gold,  and 
fill  every  one  with  a  desire  to  become  possessed  of  its  wealth, 
and  with  a  willingness  to  work  for  it.  In  an  unusual  degree, 
he  succeeded  to  inspire  them  with  admiration  and  love  of  the 
Scriptures ;  to  impress  them  with  their  divine  authority  and 
unspeakable  value ;  to  give  them  confidence  in  their  certainty, 
and  delight  in  their  excellence ;  and  to  furnish  them  with  a 
key  for  unlocking  their  stores, 

ISTothing  did  he  urge  and  re-urge  so  much,  as  to  use  their  own 
faculties ;  to  think  for  themselves ;  and  to  become,  to  a  very 
great  extent,  their  own  instructors.  As  in  his  catechetical 
mode  of  proceeding,  he  ascertained  the  extent  of  their  know- 
ledge, capacity  and  skill,  individually,  he  was  enabled  to  judge 
what  they  respectively  wanted,  and  to  adapt  himself  to  their 
necessities.  At  the  same  time  the  students  were  brousjht  to  a 
nearer  view  of  his  mind  in  its  various  processes  and  achieve- 
ments, and  in  those  peculiar  methods  of  grappling  with  difficult 
subjects  by  which  he  had  been  enabled  in  such  an  eminent  de- 
gree to  master  them,  and  to  render  them  interesting.  There 
was  a  coming  into  close  contact  with  a  mind  of  vigour,  ardour, 
and  brilliancy,  in  actual  operation,  which  gives  off  from  its  own 
properties  to  the  learner.  Never  were  young  minds  awakened 
to  higher  or  holier  aspirations  than  those  which  were  awakened 
in  his  classes ;  and  never  was  there  felt  a  more  transporting  ad- 
miration or  affection  for  a  teacher.  Nor  were  the  versatility 
and  power  of  his  talents  and  the  elevation  of  his  soul  ever  more 
conspicuous.  Indeed  there  was  usually  such  a  combination  of 
logic,  learning,  wit,  earnestnes.'^,  and  spirituality,  as  appeared 
truly  astonishing. 

He  moreover  felt  such  a  sincere  regard  for  the  young  men  of 
his  charge,  and  took  such  pains  to  counsel  them  respecting 
everything  appertaining  to  their  future  usefulness  and  comfort 


FAUEWELL   MEETING.  531 

as  seemed  to  them  almost  paternal,  and  could  not  fail  to  secure 
their  attachment  and  confidence. 

Many  maxims  and  suggestions  of  sound  practical  sense,  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  giving  them^and  knew  well  how  to  improve 
occasions  and  opportunities  for  doing  so.     On  appointing  them 
subjects  for  examination,   for  instance,  he  would  tell  them : 
"Consult  commentators,  but  use  your  own  minds   more" — 
"Study  more  by  subjects  than  by  books" — "Never  fail  of  ful- 
filling your  appointments,  or  of  being  punctual  " — "  Want  of 
punctuality  is  want  of  virtue."     With  regard  to  time,  he  used 
to  say,  "  '  Gather  up  the  fragments,  that  nothing  be  lost.'     Al- 
most every  day,  we  have  little  intervals  of  time  which  are  apt 
to  be  overlooked,  which  yet  may  be  improved  to  the  very  best 
purpose.     Every  moment  of  time  is  too  precious  to  be  wasted." 
His  own  habit  was  to  have  always  some  subject  in  his  mind — 
such  perhaps  as  that  of  a  contemplated  sermon  ;  then  whenever 
he  walked  or  rode,  or  happened  to  have  a  moment's  leisure  or 
respite  from  business,  or  break  in  conversation,  he  would  re- 
cur to  it  and  revolve  it  in  his  thoughts.     Many  of  his  best  dis- 
courses were  prepared  in  this  way.     The  habit  of  thus  thinking 
he  had  very  much  cultivated.     Indeed,  without  it,  he  could  not 
have  met  a  tithe  of  the  calls  upon  him. 

There  was  one  occasion,  at  the  close  of  each  term  which  few 
of  his  students  could  forget.  It  was  a  sort  of  farewell  meeting, 
when  he  gave  them  the  benefit  of  his  own  experience  and  ob- 
servation on  various  points  which  he  thought  young  men  in 
their  circumstances  might  find  useful ;  such  as  their  conversa- 
tion and  manners  among  themselves,  among  their  friends, 
among  strangers,  among  Christians,  in  travelling  and  at  hotels, 
in  general  society  and  towards  persons  of  different  sexes,  ages, 
or  ranks.  More  particularly  did  he  counsel  them  about  their 
mental  cultivation ;  their  selection  of  books  and  their  method 
of  reading  them,  their  recreation  and  exercise  for  health,  their 
personal  cleanliness — thinking  it  allied  to  moral  purity.  Still 
more  did  he  enlarge  on  their  professional  studies  and  duties; 
their  manner  of  attending  to  their  various  departments  of  la- 
bour ;  their  settlement  and  companionship  for  life  ;  in  a  word, 
everything  which  could  affect  their  future  standing  and  influ- 
ence.    Above  all,  did  he  carefully  probe  their  views  and  mo- 


532  INTERCOURSE   WITH   HIS   STUDENTS. 

tives  in  entering  the  sacred  office  ;  insist  with  emphasis  on  the 
cultivation  of  personal  piety,  and  press  this  subject  close  home 
to  them,  with  a  solemnity  and  affection  which  could  scarcely  be 
exceeded.  Never  can  we  forget  the  striking  and  impressive 
manner  in  which  he  once  said,  "No  dray-horse  in  the  street  is 
such  a  drudge  as  that  minister  of  the  Gospel  who  does  not  love 
his  work."  Never,  it  is  believed,  did  he  so  get  near  his  stu- 
dents, or  so  gain  fast  hold  upon  their  hearts,  or  so  pour  out  his 
own  feelings  in  undisguised  simplicity  and  tenderness,  as  on 
these  occasions.  Before  he  closed,  he  was  often  overv/helmed 
by  his  emotions,  and  obliged  to  stop,  while  not  a  dry  eye 
was  left  in  the  room.  The  meeting  continued  about  an  hour, 
and  was  always  closed  with  prayer,  as  indeed  were  all  his  meet- 
ings for  instruction.  Such  partings  served  very  much  to  rivet 
the  attachment  of  his  students  ;  and  to  heighten  their  admiration 
of  his  character,  both  for  wisdom  and  for  worth. 

In  his  intercourse  with  them  he  was  remarkably  frank,  open, 
affable  and  kind.  No  parent  could  be  more  so.  Never  did  he 
appear  haughty,  overbearing,  or  severe.  Insolence,  indeed,  he 
would  not  have  endured.  Everything  like  impertinence  would, 
no  doubt,  have  received  his  withering  rebuke;  but  modest  worth, 
though  somewhat  dull  and  slow,  he  always  treated  with  patience. 
Never  did  he  wear  a  repulsive  aspect.  Never  did  he  approach 
one  with  the  chill  of  an  assumed  dignity,  or  affect  mystery  and 
reserve.  He  gained  respect  without  aiming  at  it.  He  had  no 
need  of  any  of  those  studied  arts,  or  artificial  miens,  by  which 
secondary  men  sometimes  contrive  to  appear  great.  He  could 
afford  to  be  open,  undisguised,  and  even  familiar.  He  stood  in 
no  danger  from  undue  liberties.  Never  was  a  student  known 
to  offer  him  a  disrespectful  or  improper  lisp. 

Nor  was  he  dogmatical  in  his  opinions ;  but  always  ready  to 
give  reasons  for  every  position  taken,  and  to  make  his  mean- 
ing plain  to  every  capacity.  He  never  wished  any  one  to  give 
his  assent  without  being  convinced.  He  would  patiently  hear 
and  answer  every  objection,  and  always  do  full  justice  to  his 
opponents.  Though  he  might  differ  from  them,  he  would 
readily  acknowledge  wdiatever  ability  they  might  possess,  or 
whatever  force  might  be  seen  in  their  arguments.  If,  as  rarelv 
happened,  any  difficulty  was  presented  which  he  could  not  re- 


m  THE  PULPIT.  533 

move,  he  would  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  admit  it.  Entire 
candour  was  one  of  his  unmistakable  characteristics.  Every- 
thing fair,  honourable,  generous  and  true,  were  the  ornaments 
which  he  wore.  These  were  among  the  qualities  Avhich  cap- 
tivated the  hearts  of  his  young  friends,  and  bound  them  to  him 
with  an  enthusiasm  and  warmth  little  short  of  idolatrous. 

But  though  a  nearer  view  of  the  man  was  afforded  from  his 
professorial  chair,  yet  he  was  more  extensivelj''  known  to  the 
world  at  large  from  the  pulpit.  And  much  as  we  may  have 
learned  concerning  his  active  and  laborious  life,  from  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  we  are  yet  comparatively  uninformed,  if  we  leave 
out  of  sight  those  very  able  discourses  which  for  so  many 
years.  Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  he  delivered  to  his  congregation. 

The  first  time  the  compiler  heard  him  preach  was  in  the 
month  of  November,  1809  ;  and  such  a  specimen  of  preaching 
he  had  never  heard  before — so  simple,  so  clear,  yet  so  rich ;  so 
instructive,  yet  so  interesting ;  so  powerful,  yet  so  tender ;  so 
full  of  majesty,  yet  so  winning.  He  seemed  to  dwell  in  a 
region  of  thought  and  feeling,  many  degrees  removed  from  that 
of  ordinary  preachers ;  an  atmosphere  of  light  and  warmth 
peculiarly  his  ov/n.  It  so  happened  that  he  was  just  commenc- 
ing a  course  of  expository  lectures  on  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians.  He  appeared  to  be  familiar  with  everything  relat- 
ing to  those  churches,  and  without  effort  to  set  forth  in  an  easy 
and  lucid  manner  whatever  might  be  necessary  for  under- 
standing the  full  meaning  and  force  of  the  Apostle's  language. 
The  history  of  the  people  and  of  the  cit}'' — their  philosophy, 
literature  and  arts — their  temples,  their  religious  opinions  and 
their  religious  rites — their  national  temper,  their  public  sports, 
their  social  habits,  and  their  tone  of  morals;  the  entrance  of  the 
Gospel  among  them,  the  revolutions  which  it  had  achieved,  the 
organization  of  Christian  societies,  and  the  various  influences 
which  had  afterwards  sprung  up  to  disturb  their  peace,  mar 
their  beauty,  and  retard  their  progress  ;  all  these  seemed  to  be 
present  to  his  mind,  and  to  furnish  him  with  the  best  materials 
for  his  work.  His  thoughts,  though  so  abundant,  and  even 
superabundant,  were  most  completely  arranged,  and  never 
jostled  against  each  other,  or  presented  themselves  in  con- 
fused   groups.     On    every  topic   he    said    enough,   and    never 


534  IN   THE   PULPIT. 

too  much.  He  knew  what  points  to  make  prominent,  and 
what  to  pass  over.  He  was  for  the  most  part  calm  and 
deliberate,  yet  never  dull ;  and  occasionally  swelling  and 
rising  with  a  thought  or  emotion  which  he  could  not  suppress. 
On  the  whole,  the  effect  upon  his  audience  at  this  time  was 
that  of  entire  satisfaction  with  the  acquisition  of  valuable  truth, 
without  transports  of  rapture.  A  few  Sabbaths  later,  however, 
in  the  progress  of  his  exposition,  occasion  was  given  for  such 
bursts  of  impassioned  eloquence  as  were  perfectly  over- 
whelming. 

The  life  and  character  of  Paul,  he  had  profoundly  studied, 
and  was  filled  with  the  result.  The  apostle's  early  history,  his 
native  energy,  his  powerful  intellect,  his  extensive  learning, 
his  readiness  and  skill  to  applj'"  what  he  knew,  his  ardour  and 
impetuosity,  his  strength  of  will,  his  boldness  of  enterprise,  his 
loftiness  of  aim,  his  stubbornness  of  national  prejudice  and 
pride  combined  with  the  fanatical  zeal  of  his  bigoted  sect,  the 
terrible  force  given  to  his  persecuting  rage  by  reducing  it  to  a 
system,  and  by  taking  a  "commission  from  the  high  priest  for 
haling  men  and  women  to  prison"  as  he  was  "  laying  waste 
the  church  and  breathing  out  threatening  and  slaughter  against 
the  brethren  ;" — then  that  sublime  and  glorious  visitation  from 
heaven  which  overtook  him  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  and  con- 
quered his  rage  and  made  him  a  meek  inquirer  after  the  way 
of  salvation — the  mighty  change  by  which  the  enraged  wild 
beast  became  a  lamb,  the  furious  persecutor  an  humble  disci- 
ple, and  by  which  his  towering  abilities  became  enlisted  in 
favour  of  the  cause  which  he  had  before  destroyed,  so  that 
instead  of  seeing  in  his  course  a  sweeping  whirlwind  and  a  deso- 
lating flood,  nien  saw  in  it  only  those  labours  which  plant  and 
water  the  seeds  of  eternal  life;  then  his  humility  and  love 
and  gentleness,  combined  with  his  activity  and  zeal  and  faith 
and  patience  and  perseverance,  and  sore  conflicts  internal  and 
external,  and  his  blessed  triumphs ;  his  sublime  career,  as, 
seeing  the  vast  ruin  of  a  race  lymg  in  wickedness,  he  moved 
forward  with  a  wisdom  and  strength  not  his  own,  in  preaching 
the  gospel  of  redeeming  grace,  as  God's  appointed  method 
for  raising  them  to  holiness  and  to  heaven — like  the  sun 
at  the  deluge,  darting  an  ardent  look  upon  a  sunken  world, 


AT   SACRAMENTAL   SERVICE.  535 

and,  conducted  by  an  invisible  hand,  pursuing  Ins  loft}^  track 
to  dissipate  the  curse  which  their  iniquities  liad  brought ; — all 
this  seemed  to  be  realized  by  the  preacher  and  to  have  fired  in 
his  soul  a  kindred  feeling,  Paul's  entire  character  and  career 
were  perhaps  never  more  correctly  or  more  fully  conceived ; 
or  more  justly  and  faithfully  pourtrayed  for  the  contemplation 
of  others.  Indeed  the  speaker  seemed  to  share  the  same  mind, 
and  to  feel  moved  by  the  same  impulse  with  his  subject.  The 
thought  of  what  Paul  was,  especially  as  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  struck  a  chord  which  vibrated  through  his  soul,  and 
awakened  the  best  powers  with  which  he  was  endowed.  It 
seemed  to  touch,  as  with  a  spark,  a  magazine  of  the  most 
interesting  associations,  and  to  kindle  such  emotions  and  de- 
sires as  are  the  inspiration  of  eloquence.  Such  was  Dr.  Ma- 
son's appearance  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  and  many  times 
afterward. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  we  were  permitted  to  attend 
his  ministration  at  a  communion  season.  To  describe  it  ade- 
quately, is  impossible. '  It  was  indeed  a  rich  feast  and  full  of 
love.  To  say  that  it  was  transcendently  solemn,  interesting 
and  touching,  is  feeble  language.  It  might  be  thought  extrav- 
agant to  say  that  it  partook  more  of  heaven  than  of  earth ;  but 
we  may  say  that  it  seemed  to  have  far  more  of  heaven  in  it  than 
any  scene  which  we  had  ever  before  witnessed.  It  was  at 
least  an  approach  to  what  Paul  calls  "heavenly  places."  The 
minister's  soul  was  filled  with  the  things  which  he  had  learned 
and  experienced  in  the  school  of  an  intimate  divine  com- 
munion. He  seemed  to  feel  a  near  afiinity  with  holy  beings 
of  another  sphere,  and  to  realize  the  presence  and  the  grace  of 
that  Supreme  Master  whom  he  served,  and  whose  death,  of  the 
profoundest  import  and  virtue,  was,  by  his  own  appointment, 
commemorated  in  the  church.  He  seemed  to  have  a  near  view 
of  that  divine  Saviour  who  had  come  from  the  depths  of  infi- 
nite and  eternal  love,  through  his  humanity  to  make  God  known 
to  our  race,  and  to  perform  for  them  his  redeeming  work ;  to 
harmonize  God's  attributes,  to  establish  his  authority,  to  illus- 
trate and  enforce  the  principles  of  his  government;  then  to  re- 
ceive rebels  into  favour,  and  to  bring  them  by  his  word  and 
spirit  into  reconciliation  and  friendship  with  heaven.     His  mind 


536  Christ's  godhead. 

and  heart  were  full  of  all  those  sublime  and  tender  ideas 
respecting  Christ  and  the  assembly  of  his  saints  which  are 
taught  at  large  in  the  Gospel,  and  cluster  around  this  holj 
institution,  and  are  summed  up  in  its  significant  and  impressive 
symbols.  Then  there  was  so  much  reverence,  humility,  love 
and  confidence  blended  with  holy  joy,  that  his  face  almost 
shone  as  if  he  were  holding  converse  with  God  on  the  Mount. 
His  heart  flowed  out  in  thanksgiving  and  praise  to  God,  and  in 
tears  of  affection  to  his  people ;  in  thoughts  and  feelings  and 
expressions,  which  none  but  the  Father  of  lights  could  have 
given  him. 

It  is  believed  that  to  no  one  who  has  ever  attended  Dr.  Ma- 
son's services  on  a  communion  Sabbath,  the  foregoing  remarks 
will  appear  overwrought  or  misplaced.  The  peculiar  interest 
which  he  both  felt  and  imparted  on  such  occasions,  was  doubt- 
less based  on  his  deep  conviction  of  the  supreme  divinity  of 
Christ,  united  with  a  conviction  equally  deep  of  the  vital  union 
and  communion  between  Christ  and  his  people  by  the  indwell- 
ing of  his  Spirit. 

On  the  former  point,  he  had  once,  while  a  student,  experi- 
enced a  sore  conflict ;  but  v/as  mercifullj^  relieved  by  one  of 
those  special  Divine  manifestations  which  impart  such  "a  self- 
evidencing  power  to  God's  word,"  and  which  "open  our  eyes 
to  behold  wondrous  things"  out  of  it,  and  satisfy  us  with  a  clear 
insight  into  its  meaning  and  its  glory.  In  a  written  memoran- 
dum left  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Knox,  before  referred  to,  she 
says  :  "  I  recollect  hearing  my  father  speak  of  difiiculties  which 
he  once  had  concerning  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  his  anguish, 
feeling  as  he  did,  that  the  Bible  was  no  good  news  to  guilty 
man  if  that  doctrine  were  untrue  ;  that  one  night  in  particular, 
the  distress  of  his  mind  was  exceedingly  great,  when  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  chapter  of  Malachi  was  borne  home  upon  his 
mind  with  such  power  that  he  Avas  immediately  and  thoroughly 
relieved— never  having  a  doubt  on  the  subject  afterward."  A 
passage  in  his  diary  has  probably  reference  to  the  same  crisis. 
And  this  may  account  for  his  extreme  sensibility  on  this  point. 
He  regarded  it  as  entering  into  the  very  essence  and  vitality  of 
all  true  Christian  hope.  Those  who  have  often  heard  him, 
must  have  been  struck  with  the  power  and  feeling  with  which 


god's  spirit.  537 

he  was  moved,  whenever  he  had  occasion  to  speak  on  this  topic. 
His  soul  was  all  alive  respecting  it.  He  had  very  evidently 
thought  and  felt  most  profoundly  on  the  great  subjects  of 
Christ's  mediation  and  atonement ;  on  those  great  principles  of 
God's  moral  government  which  are  essentially  connected  with 
these  august  transactions,  and  on  those  vast  interests  of  both 
time  and  eternity  which  .they  involve.  It  was  evident  that  he 
habitually  made  them  subjects  of  reflection ;  and  especially  that 
at  the  approach  of  each  communion  season,  as  a  suitable  prepa- 
ration, he  sought  and  received  a  fresh  unction  to  his  mind  with 
regard  to  them. 

From  the  innermost  experience  of  his  own  heart,  likewise,  he 
felt  the  nature  and  importance  of  the  Spirit's  influence,  in  open- 
ing up  the  Scriptures,  in  enlightening  the  mind  with  spiritual 
apprehensions,  in  manifesting  God's  glory,  in  renovating  the 
affections,  and  in  bringing  us  into  fellowship  with  God  and  his 
saints. 

In  all  his  ministrations  he  proved  himself  "mighty  in  the 
Scriptures."  This  credit  was  probably  never  denied  him  in 
any  quarter.  The  Bible  was  the  basis  on  which  he  was  formed, 
and  on  which  he  thought  all  ministers  of  the  Gospel  ought  to 
be  formed,  and  on  which  they  ought  to  rely  for  success.  He 
had  no  hope  for  the  diffusion  of  pure  religion  among  mankind, 
but  by  the  simple  and  earnest  exhibition  of  God's  own  word 
in  the  labours  of  his  living  ambassadors.  From  no  other 
source  could  he  expect  any  radical  and  essential  improvement, 
either  in  the  individual,  or  in  the  structure  of  society.  He 
had  accordingly,  from  an  early  age,  made  himself  very  familiar 
with  every  part  of  the  sacred  volume ;  especially  with  Genesis 
Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Isaiah,  the  Gospels,  Acts,  and  the 
Epistles.  In  every  part  of  these  he  always  seemed  very  much 
at  home  ;  and  he  was  remarkable  for  the  minute  accuracy  with 
which  he  quoted  them.  On  one  occasion  the  writer  recollects 
he  was  engaged  to  address  a  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Young 
Men's  Missionary  Society,  held  in  a  public  school  room  on 
Chatham  street.  It  so  happened,  that  the  President,  Mr.  John 
D.  Keese,  without  any  preconcert,  read  a  chapter  of  his  own 
selection,  out  of  Isaiah.  This  chapter  the  Doctor  made  the 
foundation  of  his  discourse,  and  it  is  believed  the  Society  were 
34* 


538  PUBLIC   READING. 

never  favoured  with  a  more  able,  clear,  well  connected,  and 
animating  view  of  the  nature,  grandeur,  and  prospects  of  the 
enterprise  in  which  they  were  embarked. 

At  this  period  he  lectured  every  Wednesday  evening,  to  a 
full  church,  on  the  Shorter  Catechism.  These  lectures  were 
exceedingly  instructive  and  interesting.  They  were  very  highly 
valued,  not  only  by'his  congregation^  but  by  the  students  of 
the  Seminary,  and  a  number  of  ministers  who  regularly  attended 
them.  He  showed  himself  to  be  amply  furnished  with  every- 
thing requisite  in  the  didactic  and  polemical  systems  of  The- 
ology, in  stating  with  precision,  and  in  proving,  illustrating, 
defending  and  enforcing  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  in  every 
part,  with  the  hand  of  a  master. 

The  force  and  effect  with  which  Dr.  Mason  read  the  Scrip- 
tures in  public,  has  often  been  noticed.  It  consisted  not  merely 
in  the  exact  propriety  of  his  accents,  pauses  and  intonations, 
but  also  in  a  certain  indescribable  expression  of  countenance 
and  manner.  He  seemed  in  very  unusual  degrees  to  enter  into 
the  meaning  and  spirit  of  what  he  read.  There  was  noth- 
ing artificial  or  stiff,  but  all  seemed  like  the  natural  im- 
pulses and  promptings  of  a  soul  that  was  both  enlightened  and 
quickened.  Withal  he  seemed  to  have  a  distinct  and  just  con- 
conception  of  the  characters  introduced,  as  also  of  the  scene,  the 
circumstances,  and  the  associations  of  the  occasion.  To  all 
these  his  feelings  seemed  to  be  alive;  he  caught  their  spirit, 
and  gave  them  expression  in  such  a  way  as  to  instruct,  as 
well  as  greatly  to  affect  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  audience. 
We  cannot  become  such  readers  of  the  Scriptures  as  he  was  by 
any  lectures  on  rhetoric,  or  instruction  in  the  art  of  reading;  we 
cannot  without  gaining  such  an  insight  into  their  meaning  and 
such  an  experience  of  their  pov/er  as  he  had;  in  a  word,  v/ith- 
out  being  like  him,  both  in  our  mental  and  physical  structure, 
and  in  our  attainments  both  intellectual  and  spiritual.  One 
great  secret  of  his  art  was  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
Divine  records,  and  his  profound  reverence  for  the  disclosures 
which  they  make,  and  for  the  high  source  of  them.  When  he 
read,  he  seemed  to  realize  that  he  was  standing  before  God,  and 
was  honoured  as  an  organ  to  give  sound  to  God's  truth.  When 
he  read,  for  example,  the  visions  of  Isaiah,  he  seemed  to  be 


PREACHING.  539 

moved  and  carried  away  by  them  as  the  prophet  himself  had 
been.  When  he  read  of  Paul,  his  knowledge  and  admiration 
of  Paul's  character  seemed  to  throw  a  glowing  radiance  around  the 
words  which  he  had  spoken,  the  actions  which  he  had  performed, 
the  assaults  which  he  had  endured,  and  all  the  circumstances  in 
which  he  had  been  placed.  By  consciousness  of  a  vivid  reali- 
zation, the  faith,  the  patience,  the  self-denial,  the  humility,  the 
love,  the  zeal,  the  wisdom,  the  noble  daring,  and  the  never- 
fainting  perseverance  of  the  Apostle,  seemed  to  impart  them- 
selves to  the  reader,  and  thus  in  a  measure  to  the  hearer. 
When  he  found  him  at  Athens,  the  glory  of  Greece  in  its  memo- 
ries of  heroism,  and  in  its  proud  monuments  of  learning  and  of 
art,  contrasted  with  the  sad  memorials  of  its  debasing  supersti- 
tion, crowded  upon  his  mind,  and  gave  additional  interest  to 
his  subject.  Above  all,  when  he  read  of  Jesus,  the  divine  glory 
of  the  Saviour,  and  the  wonders  of  his  incarnation,  his  life,  and 
his  death,  the  triumphs  of  his  resurrection,  the  progress  of  his 
gospel,  the  victories  of  his  truth  over  ignorance  and  error  every- 
where, the  conversion  of  all  nations,  and  the  final  establishment 
of  an  universal  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  love  forever, 
seemed  to  rush  upon  his  mind  and  fill  him  with  the  most  sub- 
lime emotions.  Without  similar  powers  and  attainments  we 
cannot  approach  the  excellence  of  such  a  reader. 

In  jpreaching^  these  accomplishments  were  still  more  conspic- 
uous. As  he  had  not  any  notes  before  him,  he  enjoyed  greater 
freedom,  and  could  with  more  facility  give  expression  to  the 
things  which  he  thought  and  felt.  In  an  eminent  degree,  he 
had  the  power  of  giving  his  hearers  an  inside  view  of  his  own 
mind,  and  of  bringing  them  into  sympathy  with  the  same.  He 
made  them  to  see  and  to  share  the  pure  and  noble  conceptions 
which  filled  his  understanding  and  kindled  his  affections.  You 
felt  yourself  brought  into  a  communion  which  was  both  rich  and 
sweet.  Yet  you  felt  that  all  you  shared  was  but  a  part  of 
what  was  stored  in  his  mind  ;  and  still  more  abundantly  stored 
in  that  Holy  Volume  from  which  his  mind  had  been  furnished. 
He  introduced  you  into  the  treasure-house  of  his  King,  though 
you  might  not  be  able  at  once  to  enter  all  its  apartments,  or 
explore  all  its  wealth. 

His  preaching  was  also  remarkably  suggestive.     As  a  skilful 


540  AN  ANALYSIS. 

painter  is  able,  by  a  single  article  or  appendage,  to  set  fortb  the 
whole  appearance  and  character  of  a  man ;  or  an  accomplished 
sculptor,  by  the  position  of  a  limb  or  the  swell  of  a  muscle,  to 
express  an  emotion  or  a  passion,  a  habit  or  a  life ;  so  he  had 
power  by  a  single  stroke  to  draw  a  full  portrait,  or  to  paint  an 
entire  scene ;  and  to  give  meaning  and  force  to  the  laconic 
phrases  which  he  delighted  to  employ.  He  would  often  by  a 
single  sentence  or  even  word,  strike  out  a  train  of  thought  for 
his  hearers  and  stimulate  their  minds  to  pursue  it ;  or  he  would 
burst  upon  them  with  a  grand  or  a  beautiful  image,  which 
awakened  their  imagination  to  trace  out  a  bright  scene,  or  a 
succession  of  bright  scenes,  which  afforded  them  delight,  and 
which  they  felt  reluctant  to  leave.  He  was  more  abundant  in 
short  metaphors  than  in  protracted  similes.  He  never  hung 
on  to  a  thought  till  he  had  presented  it  in  every  possible 
aspect.  He  preferred  to  leave  many  things  for  the  hearer's 
imagination  to  supply  and  complete. 

Upon  the  whole,  for  a  combination  of  clearness,  power,  ma- 
jesty, bold  conceptions,  profound  thought,  sublime  and  tender 
emotions,  evangelical  richness  and  unction,  natural  and  imx- 
pressive  utterance,  adaptation  of  style  and  manner  to  varying 
subjects  and  assemblies.  Dr.  Mason  would  probably  not  lose  by 
a  comparison  with  the  best  preachers  that  have  adorned  the 
modern  pulpit. 

H  we  were  required  to  analyse  his  eloquence,  we  could  scarcely 
fail  of  discovering  several  distinct  qualities  which  contributed 
to  the  result.  His  voice,  for  example,  was  singularly  deep- 
toned,  and  yet  melodious ;  strong,  yet  not  harsh ;  of  great  com- 
pass, and  yet  suited  to  expressions  in  a  very  whisper ;  clear, 
distinct,  commanding,  and  yet  in  prayer  most  reverential  and 
supplicatory,  possessing  great  flexibility,  and  easily  accommo- 
dated to  every  variety  of  use. 

His  deep  blue  eye  was  equally  indicative  of  intelligence  and 
of  sensibility.  With  his  other  features,  it  would  often  brighten 
up  and  become  almost  radiant  with  what  was  passing  within. 
There  seemed  to  be  at  times  a  sort  of  transparency  in  his  coun- 
tenance for  the  shining  forth  of  his  soul ;  it  seemed  almost 
lighted  up  with  a  higher  than  earthly  effulgence,  and  affording 


AN   ANALYSIS.  541 

the  best  illustration  of  Milton's  "human  face  divine,"  The 
tones  of  his  voice  withal,  and  the  expressions  of  his  countenance 
were  ever  most  happily  changing  with  those  shades  of  meaning 
which  he  wished  to  convey. 

But  his  highest  qualifications  resided  in  his  strong,  well 
balanced  and  richly  furnished  mind.  His  knowledge  of  things 
was  clear,  extensive  and  well  defined.  Especially  was  his 
insight  into  the  Scriptures  both  profound  and  familiar,  while 
he  was  deeply  imbued  with  their  spirit.  His  power  of 
illustration  was  great,  and  he  seemed  to  have  at  com- 
mand whatever  of  history  or  science  or  art  or  literature  or 
passing  events  or  choice  words,  was  requisite  for  his  purpose. 
His  command  of  language  was  great.  He  was  often  laconic, 
but  never  obscure.  His  allusions  were  natural,  often  exquisitely 
delicate,  never  far-fetched.  His  imagination  was  both  powerful 
and  vivid  ;  but  under  the  control  of  a  sound  judgment  and  good 
taste.  He  made  it  his  servant  and  not  his  master.  Though 
his  discourses  were  rich  in  ornament,  as  well  as  illustration,  he 
was  never  led  off  from  his  main  purpose  by  those  muses  and 
those  graces  which  danced  and  played  around  him.  The  fruit 
was  never  hidden  by  foliage  and  flowers.  Force  he  would 
never  sacrifice  to  fancy,  or  to  any  fastidiousness  of  taste.  A 
strong  thought,  he  would  never  weaken  by  little  prettinesses  of 
artificial  rhetoric.  For  the  sake  of  emphasis,  he  would  some- 
times be  abrupt,  and  almost  rough,  but  never  low.  Affectation 
of  every  kind  he  abhorred.  Studied  stateliness,  theatric  attitudes 
and  starts,  were  most  uncongenial  to  his  nature.  He  had 
majesty,  but  no  parade ;  simple  grandeur,  but  no  assumed 
dignity  and  circumstance ;  no  artifice  whatever  for  effect,  but  a 
masterly  power  to  magnify  his  office.  His  looks,  every  muscle 
of  his  face,  and  every  movement  of  his  body,  were  instinct  with 
intelligence  and  emotion,  and  were  prompted  from  within.  He 
spoke  as  he  thought  and  felt.  Always  master  of  his  subject 
and  deeply  interested  in  it,  he  was  naturally  led  and  even  urged 
into  expressions,  tones  and  gestures,  at  once  the  most  significant, 
and  the  most  becoming. 

Hence  everything  varied  with  time,  place  and  circumstances. 
His  discourses  on  a  communion  Sabbath,  for  instance,  were  very 
different  from  those  of  ordinary  occasions.     How  different  too 


542  DR.   CHALMERS. 

were  his  prayers  from  his  sermons,  in  style,  tone  and  spirit! 
He  was  awed  by  the  Divine  presence  whenever  he  lifted  up  his 
eyes  with  his  heart.  It  has  been  said  of  his  father  that  he  used 
to  make  a  perceptible  pause  on  pronouncing  the  name  of  God. 
The  son  had  not  this  pause ;  but  there  was  always  a  marked 
indication  of  reverence  and  love.  He  seemed  awed  and  subdued, 
yet  confiding  and  free. 

But  in  addressing  the  people,  his  tone  and  manner  were  al- 
tered. He  became  more  unrestrained,  and  most  fearlessly  and 
faithfully,  though  compassionately,  did  he  deal  out  the  weighty 
messages  with  which  he  was  charged.  Most  earnest  was  he, 
not  only  to  instruct,  but  to  awaken  and  to  win.  His  sermons 
were  not  mere  official  exercises,  but  a  matter  of  real  life  in  which 
he  viewed  every  hearer  personally  interested.  He  sought  not 
to  please,  but  to  save;  not  to  afford  entertainment,  but  benefit. 
He  did  not  play  the  orator,  but  in  simplicity  and  sincerity  en- 
deavoured to  warn,  to  alarm,  to  convert  and  to  edify.  He  was 
not  the  actor  aiming  at  anything  like  stage  representation,  but 
had  a  business  to  transact  and  a  real  object  to  gain  ;  and  in  or- 
der to  gain  it,  was  armed  with  truth  and  warmed  with  love. 
He  laboured  to  present,  and  to  urge  home  eternal  things  in  the 
strongest  and  most  effectual  manner. 

Comparison  has  sometimes  been  made  between  Dr.  M.  and 
two  of  his  distinguished  cotemporaries  in  Great  Britain.  There 
is  doubtless  some  ground  for  it  in  certain  strong  features  of  re- 
semblance, but  at  the  same  time,  there  were  such  differences  as 
to  leave  the  idiosyncrasy  of  each  undisturbed.  Each  one  of 
them  was  great  in  his  own  way ;  and  that  way  was  no  dispar- 
agement to  the  excellence  of  the  others.  Perhaps  no  three 
individuals  were  ever  better  qualified,  by  their  endovv^ments  and 
attainments,  by  their  aims  and  pursuits,  by  their  similarit}''  of 
views  on  great  subjects,  and  their  congeniality  of  spirit,  to  ap- 
preciate each  other's  character  and  rejoice  in  each  other's  suc- 
cess. And  it  is  most  gratifying  to  know  that  their  personal 
acquaintance  with  each  other  awakened  no  other  feelings  be- 
tween them,  than  those  of  mutual  admiration  and  friendship. 

Dr.  Chalmers  was  great  and  overpowering.  With  all  the 
honest  simplicitj^  of  a  child,  he  was  philosophical ;  he  was 
original ;    he  was   magnificent ;    his  imagination   soared   aloft 


DR.   CHALMERS.  543. 

with  more  than  an  eagle's  flight,  and  reflected  much  of  the 
grandeur  which  he  surveyed.  No  man  ever  went  beyond  him 
in  continuing  long  on  the  wing,  and  sustaining  a  train  of  noble 
thoughts,  illuminating  them  with  ever- varying  illustration,  and 
adorning  them  at  every  turn  with  new  beauty.  He  was  unri- 
valled too  in  the  force  which  he  gave  to  his  discourses  by  their 
singular  unity  arising  from  so  exclusive  a  confinement  to  a  single 
point,  and  from  the  persevering  earnestness  with  which  he 
brought  everything  to  bear  upon  that  one  point  alone  till  it  was 
pushed  to  its  utmost  result.  But  at  the  same  time,  was  he  not 
often  too  long  about  it  ?  Did  not  his  hearers  sometimes  feel 
wearied  with  their  detention  ?  Did  they  not  sometimes  think 
that  they  had  "compassed  this  mountain  long  enough,"  and 
sigh  to  turn  directly  towards  the  desired  rest?  Do  we  not 
sometimes  take  more  pleasure  in  going  home  by  a  direct  path 
through  the  open  field,  than  to  wander  so  far  round  through  the 
■forest,  though  a  glorious  sunshine  may  everywhere  break 
through  the  trees  and  their  foliage?  Had  he  not  often  made 
his  subject  perfectly  clear  and  secured  the  conviction  of  every 
mind,  long  before  he  would  let  you  off  ?  Were  not  his  hearers 
sometimes  overloaded  with  illustrations  and  overdazzled  with 
imagery  ?  Was  there  always  just  occasion  for  such  a  great  ex- 
penditure of  force  ?  Was  it  best  to  be  always  so  much  on  the 
stretch,  and  transported  with  enthusiasm  ?  Was  such  constant 
tension  of  thought  and  feeling  always  most  effective?  Would 
he  not  have  found  an  advantange  in  occasionally  lowering  his 
wing,  or  even  in  walking  somewhat  calmly  and  familiarly  with 
us  among  the  things  of  earth  ? 

Dr.  Mason  himself  considered  Dr.  Chalmers  as  specially  raised 
up  by  Providence  for  the  times  and  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  placed;  he  considered  him  preeminently  fitted  for  in- 
troducing and  maintaining  spiritual  views  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  splendid  circles  of  those  philosophical  and  literary  hearers 
with  which  he  was  surrounded  ;  and  he  looked  upon  him  as 
shining  with  triumphant  lustre  in  the  high  and  difficult  sphere 
to  which  he  was  exalted.  It  may  yet  be  asked  however,  without 
presumption,  whether  he  was  as  rich  in  Bible  truth  as  his 
American  friend  and  admirer?  Did  not  his  philosophical  turn 
of  mind,  and  the  force  of  circumstances,  somewhat  withdraw 


544  ROBEKT  HALL. 

him  from  the  best  armoury  of  his  profession  ?  Was  he,  though 
evangelical,  as  fully  spiritual  as  his  friend?  Was  he  as  dis- 
criminating ?  Did  he  make  as  pleasing  variations  in  his  style 
and  manner  in  natural  accordance  with  changing  subjects  and 
occasions  ?  Could  he  express  as  much  meaning  in  as  few 
words  ?     Was  he  not  sometimes  too  diffuse  ? 

On  some  of  these  points  his  American  brother  seemed  some- 
what different.  His  discourses  perhaps  showed  more  conden- 
sation of  thought,  and  more  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
lively  oracles.  Perhaps  they  were  more  enriched  with  scrip- 
ture appropriately  applied,  beautifully  elucidated,  and  power- 
fully enforced.  In  publicly  expounding  the  Sacred  volume,  as 
after  the  Scottish  custom,  he  generally  did  in  the  forenoon  of 
every  Lord's  day,  Dr.  Mason  has  perhaps  not  been  excelled 
since  the  days  of  Calvin.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he 
always  did  it  in  a  clear  and  captivating  manner.  His  hearers 
were  never  weary  of  it.  He  imparted  to  them  a  relish  for  the 
food  which  he  thus  gave  them.  When  he  had  finished  his  ex- 
position of  the  Book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  his  enthusias- 
tic follower,  Dr.  Tillary,  was  probably  not  alone  in  regretting 
"  that  more  of  the  Apostles'  acts  had  not  been,  recorded," 

The  only  specimen  of  this  mode  of  preaching  which  he  has 
left  is  on  the  23rd  Psalm.  The  best  of  his  lectures,  as  well  as 
of  his  sermons,  were  never  written. 

Robert  Hall  had  also  his  peculiar  province.  He  was  more 
finished  in  his  performances  than  the  other  two.  Equally 
comprehensive,  he  was  more  elegant.  He  was  wonderfully 
condensed,  yet  perfectly  clear,  and  perfectly  graceful.  He 
selected  more  exquisite  flowers,  and  arranged  them  more 
tastefully.  His  learning,  his  logic,  his  profound  thought, 
his  strong  feeling,  all  did  homage  to  his  taste.  He  had  more  of 
the  Apollo  than  his  two  compeers;  but  less  of  the  Hercules. 
The  club  he  would  not  use  because  it  was  an  uncouth  weapon ; 
or  he  would  first  make  it  smooth,  though  by  the  process  he 
diminished  its  weight.  His  very  sword  he  would  sometimes 
weaken  by  the  degree  of  polish  which  he  gave  it.  He  paid 
more  attention  to  beauty  than  to  effective  force.  He  sometimes 
only  dazzled,  Avhen  he  should  have  wounded  and  slain.  Both 
Dr.  Chalmers  and  Dr.   M.  were  less  nice,  and  for  that  reason 


ACHIEVEMENTS.  545 

often  more  powerful.  Mr,  Hall  could  as  deeply  interest  and  cap- 
tivate an  highly  educated  audience,  but  the  other  two  could 
more  triumphantly  overwhelm  a  promiscuous  mass  of  both 
learned  and  unlearned  hearers.  They  were  so  much  engrossed 
and  carried  away  with  their  great  conceptions  as  often  to  over- 
look minuter  beauties.  They  were  so  intent  upon  a  bold  and 
striking  outline,  as  to  neglect  some  finer  strokes  of  the  pencil. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  above  comparison,  no  can- 
did reader  of  this  volume  will  deny  that  Dr.  Mason's  endow- 
ments and  achievements  were  alike  eminent.  He  possessed  an 
originality  and  power  which,  without  losing  sight  of  the  past, 
carried  him  far  into  the  future.  Connected  with  a  small  denom- 
ination without  wealth  and  hemmed  in  by  foreign  peculiarities, 
under  the  most  adverse  and  discouraging  circumstances,  he  pro- 
jected, inaugurated  and  carried  into  successful  operation  a  sys- 
tem of  ministerial  education  which  had  no  precedent  in  this 
country,  and  which  was  soon  followed  by  many  kindred  insti- 
tutions, which  are  now  spreading  in  every  direction  influ- 
ences which  promise  very  materially  and  permanently  to  affect 
the  destinies  of  our  race.  In  the  city  of  New  York  he 
gave  an  important  direction  and  impulse  to  the  claims  and 
progress  of  classical  education.  He  gave  essential  aid  to  the 
cause  of  Missions  while  in  its  infancy  ;  and  was  ever  among  the 
foremost  in  promoting  every  well  devised  scheme  of  Christian 
benevolence.  He  removed  out  of  the  way  narrow  and  invete. 
rate  restrictions  on  Christian  liberty,  and,  with  his  own  heart, 
opened  the  church  doors  of  his  denomination  to  fellowship  with 
all  who  love  a  common  Master.  Everything  which  he  touched 
received  the  impress  of  his  great  and  original  mind.  Even  in 
church  architecture,  especially  with  regard  to  that  important 
part — the  pulpit,  he  furnished  a  model,  which,  though  derided 
at  the  time,  has  been  substantially  followed  ever  since. 


35 


^I>I>ENDIX    A. 


ADDRESS   TO   THE    ANTIBURGHEK   SYNOD. 

[referred  to  in  chapter  I.] 

Reverend  Sirs  :  We  received  the  circular  letter  you  wrote  by- 
order  of  Synod,  and  w^ould  have  acknowledged  it  sooner,  had  we 
not  been  hindered  by  a  variety  of  incidents,  that  need  not  be 
mentioned.  It  was  laid  before  the  Brethren,  and  I  am  desired  by 
them  to  communicate  their  sentiments  to  you  in  the  following 
manner  : — 

It  grieves  us  to  find  that  our  Fathers  and  Brethren  in  Scotland 
are  so  far  from  following  the  things  that  malce  for  peace,  that  they 
charge  us  with  a  practical  recession  from  the  cause  of  God,  for  no 
other  reason  we  know  of,  but  our  endeavoring  to  terminate  a  dif- 
ference, which,  we  apprehend,  has  been  unspeakably  injurious  to 
the  Secession. 

Whatever  artful  colourings  have  been  induced  on  the  contro- 
versy that  has  divided  us  in  Jacob,  and  scattered  us  in  Israel,  we 
are  persuaded  that  when  prejudices  subside,  even  the  most  vio- 
lent partisans  will  be  disposed  to  own  that  it  is  extremely  ridicu- 
lous in  its  nature,  and  has  produced  a  train  of  the  most  dreadful 
consequences. 

It  is  very  distressing  to  reflect  that  such  a  respectable  body  of 
ministers  and  people,  agreeably  united  in  the  same  Confession  of 
Faith,  Directory  for  Worship,  and  Form  of  Church  Government,  and 
lately  expelled  from  the  Judicatures  of  the  established  church  for 
their  earnest  contending  for  the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  widely 
differed  in  their  sentiments,  and  disputed  with  unparalleled  fierce- 
ness about  the  meaning  of  some  Burgess  oaths,  and  of  some  acts  of 


548  APPENDIX. 

the  Revolution  Parliament.  It  is  still  more  afflicting  to  consider 
that  this  litigation  was  prosecuted  to  a  crisis,  that  split  them  into 
opposite  communions,  and  produced  a  species  of  spiritual  persecu- 
tion as  violent,  perhaps,  as  any  that  ever  raged  in  the  Christian 
church.  The  disinterested  stood  amazed.  Posterity  will  be  struck 
with  astonishment  at  this  dreadful  conflagration  kindled  by  a  spark 
amongst  brethren  renowned  for  their  orthodoxy  and  unanimity 
and  who  were  distinguished  by  the  honourable  character  of  the 
Lord's  witnessing  remnant.  The  horrors  of  this  scene  are  painted 
in  the  most  lively  colours  in  that  Divine  apostrophe  :  "  Be  aston- 
ished, 0  !  ye  heavens,  at  this,  and  be  ye  horribly  afraid  :  be  ye  very 
desolate." 

That  this  unhappy  controversy  has  shed  the  most  malignant  in- 
fluences on  the  interests  of  religion  is  a  mournful  truth  every- 
where evident  in  Scotland.  The  moment  our  union  was  dissolved, 
Christian  affection  was  almost  entirely  banished  from  our  hearts, 
which  were  immediately  inspired  with  ill-nature  and  revenge- 
Instead  of  endearing  converse  about  the  blessed  Jesus,  little  was 
heard  amongst  us  but  the  shameful  bawlings  of  angry  disputa- 
tion. The  nearest  relatives,  and  once  most  affectionate  fricnds) 
beheld  one  another  with  a  vindictive  eye,  and  were  mutually 
treated  with  a  rudeness  scarcely  to  be  found  among  heathens 
standing  under  parallel  connexions.  So  raging  was  the  infatua- 
tion, that  many  esteemed  it  a  daring  provocation  of  the  most  high 
God  to  join  with  any  of  the  opposite  party  in  the  most  general  acts 
of  Divine  worship — in  family  prayer,  or  even  in  asking  the  Lord's 
blessing  upon,  and  returning  Him  thanks  for,  the  bounties  of 
common  providence.  Ministers,  instead  of  digging  in  the  golden 
mine  of  Divine  revelation,  that  they  might  be  more  extensively 
qualified  for  displaying  to  their  hearers  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
the  Redeemer,  laboured  with  amazing  anxiety,  in  the  study  of  acts 
of  Parliament,  that  they  might  be  possessed  of  a  fund  of  Poliiical 
science,  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  harangue  their  people  into  a 
fiery  zeal  against  their  absent  brethren  who  happened  to  difier  from 
them  in  some  of  ilwAv  political  views.  Many  people  were  pleased  to 
have  it  so.  They  hung  upon  the  lips  of  their  preachers,  as  they  were 
demonstrating  that  such  and  such  things  were  done  or  not  done 
at  the  Revolution  ;  while  they  heard  with  the  utmost  indiiTerence 
the  all-important  truths  of  the  glorious  Gospel.  As  a  native  con- 
sequence of  this,  litigious  politics  became  the  grand  subject  of 
converse  on  Sabbath  days  ;  and,  as  though  the  opposite  party  had 


APPENDIX.  549 

not  been  already  suflSciently  abused  from  the  pulpit,  their  charac- 
ters were  also  opprobriously  handled  by  the  hearers,  as  they  were 
going  home  from  the  house  of  God.  It  is  not  with  a  sneer,  but 
with  pierced  hearts  that  we  mention  these  shocking  instances  of 
mutual  guilt.  Some  of  us  remember  the  mournful  scene,  and  de- 
sire to  be  humbled  for  the  part  we  acted  ;  and  we  scarce  think 
yourselves  can  recollect  it  without  blushing  and  remorse.  We 
wish  there  may  not  be  any  reason  to  fear  that  the  same  irreligious 
fervour  glows  to  this  day  in  the  hearts  of  some  from  whom  better 
things  might  be  expected. 

To  perpetuate  a  controversy  so  absurd  in  its  nature,  and  that 
has  done  infinite  mischief  to  the  cause  of  God,  is  absolutely  inex- 
cusable. We  have  no  ground  to  expect  that  our  conduct  will  be 
justified  at  the  Supreme  tribunal,  if  we  neglect  any  means  in  our 
power  that  may  serve  to  bring  it  to  an  honourable  terinination.  Some 
means  are  in  our  power.  Why  may  not  an  attempt  be  made  to  pro- 
cure an  alteration  in  the  form  of  the  disputed  oaths  ?  What  law  of 
Heaven  would  be  violated  by  our  holding  friendly  interviews,  in 
order  to  our  being  better  acquainted  with  one  another's  minds  ;  es- 
pecially, as  there  is  great  reason  to  think  that  misunderstanding  is 
one  of  the  principal  springs  of  our  division  ?  Would  there  be 
anything  criminal  in  both  sides  making  pacific  overtures  ?  To 
censure  one  another,  and  never  to  use  any  conciliatory  means, 
discovers  a  temper  which  we  scruple  not  to  assert  does  not  im- 
ply one  ingredient  of  that  sacred  benevolence  which  eminently 
marks  the  character  of  the  followers  of  Jesus. 

Such  are  the  sentiments  of  your  brethren  in  America,  and  wo 
have  acted  agreeably  to  them.  Persuaded  that  our  division  is 
scandalous  in  itself,  and  that  we  would  injure  the  cause  of  God, 
and  make  ourselves  ridiculous  to  mankind,  should  we  wrangle 
about  things  which  arc  foreign  to  Americans,  and  whicli  they  may 
be  ignorant  of,  without  incurring  the  Divine  displeasure  ;  Ave  re- 
ceived into  communion  the  Burgess  brethren  who  held  the  same 
religious  principles  with  ourselves,  and  who  were  disposed,  in 
connexion  with  us,  to  prosecute  the  testimony  in  a  suitableness 
to  our  circumstances  in  this  part  of  the  world.  It  is  but  a  poor 
salvo  to  allege,  that  though  we  had  not  any  ''  call  at  our  own 
hand  to  introduce  a  debate  about  the  Burgess  oath,  yet  it  was  our 
duty  to  stand  to  our  principles  {i.  c.  to  carry  on  the  controversy 
about  that  oath),  when  through  the  keenness  of  those  Avho  oppose 
a  testimony  for  the  covenanted  reformation  in  Scotland,  some 


550  APPENDIX. 

were  sent  over  to  raise  a  debated  It  did  not  appear  to  us  that  they 
were  sent  over  to  raise  a  debate.  For,  excepting  a  few  strong  ex- 
pressions used  by  one  of  them,  which,  upon  reflection,  he  would 
not  justify,  they  were  so  far  from  discovering  any  signs  of  a  liti- 
gious temper,  that  they  earnestly  desired  peace,  without  so  much 
as  attempting  to  draw  us  over  to  their  party.  We  could  never 
find  that  either  publicly  or  privately  they  endeavoured  to  raise  pre- 
judices in  the  minds  of  people  against  us,  which,  had  they  been  in- 
clined, they  might  have  easily  effected,  as  numbers  of  our  people 
were  once  in  communion  with  their  side,  and  are  yet,  though  with- 
out disaffection  to  us,  attached  to  it.  In  a  word,  they  discovered  a 
benevolent  temper,  and  a  sincere  regard  for  us.  As  we  found 
them  disposed  for  peace,  we  thought  it  was  our  duty  to  pursue  it. 
Their  coming  over  was  very  seasonable.  As  our  own  Synod 
would  not  send  us  any  assistance,  it  was  a  favourable  providence 
that  they  were  sent  to  lend  us  a  helping  hand  in  preaching  the 
glorious  Gospel  to  perishing  men.  AVe  do  not  yet  see  any  cause 
to  regret  the  material  parts  of  our  conduct.  The  strong  asser- 
tions in  your  letter  are  far  from  convincing  us  that  we  have  vio- 
lated any  Divine  law  in  uniting  with  our  brethren  ;  though  it 
may  be  (pardon  the  expression),  we  have  transgressed  some  law 
of  our  Synod. 

As  to  the  manner  of  our  proceeding,  we  readily  own  that  we 
have  not  been  very  scrupulous  aboiit  the  punctilios  of  church 
policy,  according  to  which  we  ought  to  have  written  to  the 
Synod  before  we  had  concluded  the  agreement,  and  transmitted 
early  advice  of  our  transactions  after  it  was  concluded.  What- 
ever reasons  we  then  had  for  neglecting  these  formalities,  we 
shall  not  now  excuse  ourselves,  as  we  do  not  choose  to  be  stiff 
with  respect  to  the  immaterial  parts  of  our  conduct. 

To  account  for  the  apparent  inconsistency  in  some  of  our  letters , 
let  it  be  considered  that  the  agreement  with  Messrs.  Telfair  and 
Kinlock,  at  Neshamina,  was  only  extrajudicial,  though  it  was  in- 
advertently subscribed  by  the  Moderator,  and  did  not  become 
judicial  till  some  months  after,  at  a  meeting  of  Presbytery  at 
Pequea.  On  this  head  we  own  it  was  an  oversight  not  to  coalesce 
with  these  two  brethren  on  the  same  footing  as  with  Mr.  Clark, 
though  the  terms  are  materially  the  same. 

You  tacitly  charge  us  with  presumption  in  meddling  with  a 
business  that  in  no  way  belonged  to  us.  On  this  we  put  the 
query,  By  what  Divine  statute  is  the   healing  of  the  wounds  of 


APPENDIX.  551 

Zion  appropriated  to  the  Associate  Synod  ?  It  is  admitted  tlie 
Synod  should  have  begun  the  good  Avork  ;  it  would  have  been 
their  honour  to  have  done  it ;  but  since  they  not  only  neglected 
their  duty,  but  seemed  to  be  resolved  never  to  set  about  it,  we  can- 
not be  justly  blamed  for  doing  what  was  in  our  power,  and  what 
we  apprehend,  the  Lord  was  calling  us  to  essay  in  this  part  of 
the  world.  Permit  us  to  observe,  that  Reformation  seldom,  if 
ever,  originated  in  the  higher  judicatories  of  a  church  that  had 
been  active  in  defection.  Inferior  judicatories,  or  particular  mi- 
nisters, encouraged  by  the  concurrence  of  the  much  despised  people, 
havCjbeen  the  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  in  beginning  the  most 
glorious  Reformations  the  Church  was  ever  blessed  with.  Had  the 
first  ministers  of  the  secession  been  governed  by  your  rule,  it  is 
likely  there  would  not  have  been  such  a  thing  as  o^hr  secession  to 
this  day.  On  the  principle  implied  in  your  reasoning,  or  rather  your 
magisterial  assertion,  the  Church  could  not  have  been  reformed, 
either  from  Popery  or  Prelacy  ;  nay,  a  Reformation  cannot  be  ex- 
pected while  the  world  stands.  Whatever  oversights  we  may  be 
chargeable  with,  that  may  be  construed  by  some  as  evidences  of 
our  despising  the  Synod,  we  still  profess  to  have  a  warm  regard 
for  the  Synod,  though  we  must  beg  leave  to  tell  you  plainly,  that 
we  are  not  disposed  to  resign  our  reason  and  conscience  by  at- 
tending so  stupidly  to  Synodical  motions  as  your  manner  of  writ- 
ing implies  we  should. 

But  this  is  the  most  grievous  charge  ;  "  We  have  given  up  the 
cause  of  God,  nay,  the  whole  testimony,  to  the  opposers  thereof.^' 
Alarming  libel,  indeed  !  Such  an  imputation  should  be  supported 
by  the  most  triumphant  evidence.  It  is  an  imputation  pregnant 
with  the  utmost  uncharitablencss  in  respect  both  of  our  brethren 
and  us.  We  doubt  not,  we  have  always  been  convinced,  that  the 
dissenting  brethren  greatly  disserved  the  cause  of  God  by  their 
scandalously  fervid  contendings  for  the  Burgess  oath,  as  we,  in 
our  turn,  have  done  it  a  very  great  injury  by  our  scandalously 
fierce  and  solemn  proceedings  against  them,  without  taking  one 
affectionate  step  to  convince  them  of  their  mistake  ;  but  that,  on 
this  account,  they  deserve  to  be  called  the  opposers  of  the  cause  of 
God,  without  any  qualification,  we  have  not  yet  the  assurance  to 
say  with  you.  Shall  we  think  that  you  are  i-eally  convinced  that 
these  brethren,  who,  as  far  as  we  know,  are  agreed  with  us  in 
every  principle  relative  to  doctrine,  worship,  and  government, 
and  who  give  as  good  evidence  of  their  having  the  fear  of  God 


662  APPENDIX. 

in  their  hearts  as  wcdo,  merit  the  severity  of  being  branded  with 
the  blackest  character  ?  If  men  are  thus  to  be  characterized, 
merely  because  they  have  said  or  done  something  that  is  sup- 
posed to  be,  in  some  respects,  opposite  to  the  cause  of  God,  ^we 
do  not  know  that  there  is  a  set  of  men  upon  earth  who  ought  not 
to  be  placed  in  the  same  category  with  the  opposers  of  it.  In  our 
opinion,  yourselves  are  in  various  respects  obnoxious  to  the  same 
character,  as  we  doubt  not  you  have  had  an  active  hand  in  some 
things  that  are  injurious  to  His  cause  ;  and  it  would  be  but  a  just 
retaliation  to  brand  you  with  it.  Perhaps  we  should  not  stretch 
the  point  though  we  should  allege  that  you  as  really  oppose  the 
cause  of  God,  in  labouring  to  prevent  a  reconciliation,  as  these 
brethren  can  be  supposed  to  have  done  in  taking  defence  of  the 
condemned  oaths.  Though  you  have  not  given  us  any  character- 
istical  epithet,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  kind  of  men  we  are  in  your 
esteem.  Our  dissenting  brethren  are  the  opposers  of  the  cause 
of  God.  We  have  given  up  the  cause  of  God  to  them.  What 
follows  ?  We  are  the  guilty,  the  treacherous  betrayers  of  it.  Can 
you  reflect  on  such  an  uncharitable  insinuation,  which  does  so 
great  injury  to  the  characters  of  your  brethren,  without  feeling  the 
most  regretting  sensations  ?  We  are  resolved  in  the  strength  of 
grace,  to  adhere  to  our  confession  of  faith,  catechisms,  directory, 
for  worship,  and  form  of  presbyterial  government — to  prosecute 
the  testimony  as  far  as  our  circumstances  require,  and  to  cherish 
a  sense  of  the  obligation  of  our  covenant,  and  to  endeavour  to  have 
a  conversation  in  the  world  corresponding  with  our  profession. 
Notwithstanding,  it  seems  we  are  the  betrayers  of  the  Lord's 
cause,  because  we  have  laid  aside  an  angry  controversy,  the  con- 
tinuation of  which,  we  apprehend,  is  inconsistent  with  a  faithful 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  Jesus.     Tell  it  not  in  Gath  ! 

It  is  likely  you,  in  your  turn,  will  reckon  us  very  uncharitable  in 
supposing  that  you  have  not  a  tender  concern  for  the  peace  of 
Zion,  since  you  expressly  declare  that  "you  are  desirous  of  peace 
founded  upon  truth."  We  shall  be  very  sorry  if  we  have  inadver- 
tently alleged  anything  that  may  be  construed  as  an  injury  to  your 
characters,  without  sufficient  grounds  ;  but  as  yet  we  cannot 
help  thinking  that  you  are  neither  consulting  peace  nor  truth,  in 
opposing  the  pacilic  measures  we  have  taken  in  America.  You 
say,  you  are  desirous  of  peace,  founded  upon  truth.  This  is,  to  be 
sure,  a  very  good  disposition.  But  we  see  some  grounds  to  sus- 
pect that  what  you  call  o,  peace  founded  upon  trzith,  implies  something 


APPENDIX.  553 

very  opposite  to  a  scriptural  peace.  Wc  suppose  j'ou  mean  that 
you  desire  to  be  at  peace  with  your  brethren  on  condition  they 
will  come  as  penitent  supplicants  to  the  bar  of  your  Synod,  and 
own  the}'  have  given  up  the  whole  testimony,  and  were 
justly  delivered  to  Satan.  If  we  have  misapprehended  your  mean- 
ing, be  pleased  to  correct  us.  Permit  us  to  tell  you,  that  this  is 
a  very  imperious  method  of  seeking  peace.  Our  brethren  are  men  of 
reason  and  understanding,  and  it  cannot  be  reasonably  expected 
that  they  will  make  such  acknowledgments  without  conviction,  or 
merely  because  it  is  the  opinion  of  our  Synod  that  they  should 
make  them.  If  the  state  of  our  affairs  is  impartially  considered, 
it  will  be  found  that  there  is  perhaps  little  less  reason,  on  our  side, 
for  penitential  acknowledgments  than  on  theirs.  Mutual  conde- 
scension is  absolutely  necessary  to  compose  such  differences  as 
have  torn  the  secession  to  pieces,  and  the  Lord  requii-es  it  as  in- 
dispensable duty.  As  there  is  ground  to  fear  that  both  sides 
have  greatly  offended  God,  it  Avould  bear  a  moi'e  Christian 
appearance  to  confess  their  faults  to  one  another,  than  for  the  one 
party  to  insist  that  the  other  should  humiliate  themselves  at  their 
feet,  while  they  themselves  are  not  disposed  to  make  the  smallest 
concession. 

We  are  also  charged  with  violating  our  ordination  vows,  giv- 
ing up  with  the  constittdion  of  the  Synod,  and  reversing  the  sen- 
tences tJiereof.  As  these  are  critical  points,  the  discussing  of 
which  at  this  time  might  widen  the  difference  between  the  Synod 
and  us,  we  desire  to  be  excused  from  writing  our  thoughts  upon 
them.  If  the  Synod  shall  think  it  proper  to  prosecute  us  for  our 
conduct,  we  will  be  obliged  to  explain  ourselves  for  our  own  vin- 
dication. But  if  the  controversy  with  us  is  laid  aside,  there  will 
be  no  necessity  for  our  doing  it  ;  and  we  hope  the  Synod  will  not 
require  it,  as  the  consequences  may  be  very  disagreeable  to  us 
all. 

No  doubt  many  have  suspected  that  wc  intend  to  break  off 
from  the  Synod.  No  suspicion  can  be  more  ungrounded,  nothing- 
is  more  remote  from  our  thoughts.  We  are  resolved  to  continue 
under  our  connexions  with  the  Synod,  as  long  as  Ave  are  permit- 
ted ;  and  if  we  shall  be  thrown  off,  it  is  our  intention  to  remain 
in  an  unconnected  state,  till  we  see  what  God  will  do.  Though 
we  have  expressed  our  minds  in  terms  that  may  be  thought  un- 
dutifully  strong,  yet  we  trust  we  are  not  obstinate.  We  lie  open 
to  conviction. 


554  APPENDIX. 

Meanwhile  we  cannot  help  being  surprised  at  the  Synod's  re- 
fusing to  send  over  some  assistants.     Though  it  were  granted 
that  we  have  departed  from  our  duty,  is  it  reasonable  that  the 
desolate  vacancies  should  be  punished  for  our  faults  ?     Missiona- 
ries may  be  laid  under  any  restrictions  the  Synod  shall  think 
proper.     If  they  are  able  and  faithful  preachers  of  the  Gospel, 
we  will  be  very  glad  of  their  officiating  in  our  vacancies,  though 
they  should  not  approve  of  our  union  with  the  Burgess  brethren  ; 
provided  they  behave  themselves  peaceably.     However  weighty 
your  reasons  for  not  sending  some  may  appear  to  you,  we  doubt 
not  that  others  will  be  tempted  to  put  this  construction  on  your 
conduct,  that  the  perpetuating  the  controversy  about  the  Burgess 
oath  lies  nearer  your  hearts  than  the  salvation  of  souls  in  Ame- 
rica.    It  is  really  astonishing  that  you  will  suffer  multitudes  to 
perish  for  lack  of  knowledge,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  two  or 
three  Missionaries  approving  our  union.     We  think  you  would 
act  more  in  character,  if  you  were  forward  to  send  men  to  publish 
the   glad  tidings  of  salvation,  even  though  upon  their  arrival 
here  they  should  give  up  with  our  Synod,  and  go  over  entirely  to 
the  opposite  party.     We  wish  this  matter  may  be  more  seriously 
considered  by  you,  for  your  refusal  makes  you  obnoxious  to  great 
and  deserved  reproach.     Should  the    Synod  think  it   proper  to 
favour  us  with  any  assistance,  we  earnestly  desire  that  none  may 
be  sent  but  persons  of  some  considerable  abilities,  and  who  have 
a  free  elocution.     Inattention  to  this  will  be  a  great  injury  to  the 
Secession  in  America. 

That  the  Lord  may  return  to  Zion  and  revive  his  work  in  the 
midst  of  the  years,  by  pouring  out  his  spii'it  of  grace  and  suppli- 
cation, of  love  and  a  sound  mind,  is  the  earnest  prayer  of. 

Reverend  Sirs, 

Your  affectionate  brother  and  humble  servant, 

J.  MASON. 
To  the  Rev.  Messrs.  William  Moncrieff  and  John  Heugh. 


A^I^FENDIX     B. 


DR.    McJIMSEY   TO    REV.    EBENEZER   MASON. 

Montgomery,  July  29th,  1830. 

Reverend  and  Dear  Sir  :  Yours  of  July  12th,  containing'  a  pro- 
spectus in  relation  to  the  publishing  of  sermons  and  essays,  &c., 
of  your  father,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Mason,  and  also  requesting  me  to 
furnish  any  materials  in  my  possession,  which  might  be  of  use,  in 
preparing  a  memoir  of  his  character  and  life,  is  now  before  me. 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  that  the  publication  of  any  of  your 
father's  productions  is  contemplated,  and  I  heartily  wish  that  you 
may  meet  with  great  encouragement  in  the  attempt,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  great  regard  I  cherish  for  the  memory  of  my  de- 
ceased friend,  but  because  I  am  persuaded  it  will  subserve  the 
interests  of  Gospel  truth  and  genuine  piety. 

In  relation  to  materials  in  my  possession,  which  might  be  of 
importance  in  preparing  a  memoir  of  his  life,  they  are  not  cxten 
sive,  in  regard  to  such  as  are  written  ;  but  they  will  be  cheerfully 
furnished.  Thej^  consist  of  letters  written  in  the  warmth  of 
personal  friendship,  on  particular  occasions.  The  correspondence 
commenced  in  1191,  soon  after  my  settlement  at  Neely  Town,  in 
elfecting  which  he  was  chiefly  instrumental,  and  was  continued 
occasionally  until  the  year  1816.  During  all  this  period,  and  even 
to  the  close  of  his  earthly  course,  the  most  intimate  and  undimin- 
ished friendship  subsisted  between  us,  as  his  letters  will  abun- 
dantly show.  Some  of  them  give  his  views  in  relation  to  the  Cal- 
vinistic  Sj-stem  of  Theology  ;  others,  the  importance  he  attached 
to  the  Theological  School  established  in  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church,  which,  it  will  be  admitted  by  all,  he  was  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  founding,  and  in  raising  to  such  a  high  degree  of  celeb- 


656  APPENDIX. 

rity.  Few  men  could  have  effected  more,  if  so  much,  with  the 
limited  means  furnished  for  its  support.  Some  of  the  letters  above 
referred  to  show  his  own  Christian  exercises  under  afflictive  dis- 
pensations ;  others  administer  advice  and  consolation  to  the 
afflicted,  shov/ing'  the  importance  of  faith  or  trust  in  God,  in  the 
life  of  a  Christian,  particularly  in  a  season  of  need,  and  as  it 
respects  the  supply  of  our  temporal  necessities.  His  remarks  on  the 
latter  point  I  deem  peculiarly  excellent ;  and  I  know  they  were  a 
source  of  comfort  to  myself.  I  need  not  make  extracts  from  them.  I 
leave  this  to  his  biographer  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  will  agree 
with  me  in  these  views,  on  a  perusal  of  the  letters.  The  letters, 
therefore,  with  a  brief  endorsement  on  them  as  to  their  contents, 
are  forwarded  to  you,  to  make  such  use  of  them  as  may  be  deemed 
proper,  on  condition  of  their  being  returned  to  me,  when  the  me- 
moir of  my  highly-esteemed  friend  and  brother  is  completed.  It 
may  not  be  improper  to  add,  that  I  know  much  personally  of  the 
excellence  and  worth  of  the  character  of  the  late  Dr.  Mason  from  my 
long  acquaintance  with  him,  and  our  friendly  and  intimate  personal 
intercourse  for  a  long  series  of  years.  His  literature,  particularly 
his  classical  attainments — his  correct  taste  on  all  subjects,  his 
uncommon  powers  for  Biblical  exposition  and  criticism,  and  the 
high  order  of  his  eloquence,  are  known  to  all  ;  and  there  can  be 
no  lack  of  proof  on  these  points.  But  I  leave  these  high  gifts 
and  attainments  of  our  deceased  friend  to  be  expatiated  on  by 
some  abler  hands.  What  I  have  to  say  relates  more  immediately 
to  the  private  worth  and  excellence  of  his  character.  My  resi- 
dence in  his  family  on  various  occasions,  and  for  weeks  together, 
when  I  visited  New-York,  while  attending  meetings  of  Presbytery 
and  Synod,  gave  me  a  full  opportunity  of  witnessing  tlie  excel- 
lence of  his  pi-ivate  character  as  a  Christian  and  a  minister.  Gen- 
tlemanly in  his  manners  towards  all  with  whom  he  had  inter- 
course, his  treatment  of  his  friends  was  kind  and  affable  and  hos- 
pitable in  an  uncommon  degree.  In  his  whole  soul  and  feelings, 
he  was  above  anything  mean  or  imgenerous. 

One  prominent  trait  in  his  character  was  his  uncommon  caution 
in  calling  in  question  the  purity  of  men's  motives  in  relation  to 
their  actions  and  measures.  While  he  spoke  his  mind  freely  in 
private  and  in  public  as  to  the  tendency  and  results  of  measures 
political  and  ecclesiastical  which  he  disapproved,  he  rarely  if  ever 
imputed  iinworthy  motives  to  the  authors  or  supporters  of  those 
measures.     More  than  once,  I  have  heard  him  express  his  abhor- 


APPENDIX.  657 

rence  of  tho  practice  of  going  a  mo!ivc  hunting.  There  were  tlioso 
who  charg-ed  him  with  being  haughty  and  overbearing  in  his  man- 
ner ;  but  it  was  without  any  just  foundation.  It  was  because 
they  were  unacquainted  with  the  character  of  the  man.  In  his 
social  intercourse  he  was  gentle  and  polite,  and  condescending  in 
his  manners  in  an  uncommon  degree  towards  those  with  whom  he 
mingled.  Possessed  of  great  colloquial  powers,  he  generally  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  conversation  of  the  social  circle  ;  but  it 
was  all  easy  and  natural.  There  was  no  apparent  effort  to  shine 
in  this  respect,  to  the  mortification  or  injury  of  any  present. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  giving  any  umbrage,  it  was  the  delight 
of  the  company.  And  sprightly  as  he  was  in  conversation, 
and  witty  in  his  remarks,  he  never  treated  a  serious  subject 
with    unbecoming    levity.       He    was    always    disgusted    with 

such  irreverent  incongruity His  domestic  and  family 

arrangements,  it  often  struck  me,  were  of  the  most  perfect 
kind — regularity,  and  order,  and  subordination,  and  happiness, 
appeared  to  pervade  the  whole  household.  In  his  family  de- 
votions, he  was  regular  and  devout  and  tender  as  became  a 
christian  i)arent  and  a  man  of  God.  No  man  or  minister  could 
be  more  attentive  in  imparting  religious  instruction  to  his  chil- 
dren and  domestics.  Every  morning,  it  was  his  uniform  practice, 
when  the  family-  were  convened  fur  family  worship,  which  was 
immediately  before  taking  breakfast,  to  catechise  his  children 
and  domestics  on  some  portion  of  religious  truth,  previously  as- 
signed, requiring  the  repetition  of  appropriate  texts  of  Scripture 
in  support  of  the  doctrine  or  duty  taught  or  inculcated.  It  wa^ 
not  his  practice,  either  in  his  public  or  private  instructions,  to 
hold  forth  tlie  opinions  and  authority  of  men,  as  the  ground  of 
faith  or  the  rule  of  duty.  Although  he  was  no  enemy  to  formu- 
laries of  sound  doctrine,  as  a  means  of  instruction  to  youth,  and 
a  bond  of  union  in  a  christian  church,  he  uniformly  referred  to 
the  oracles  of  God,  contained  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  as  the 
only  authority  which  could  bind  the  consciences  of  men.  And  I 
have  no  reason  to  suppose  or  believe,  that  his  views  in  relation  to 
a  single  article  of  Evangelical  truth,  of  which  he  was  such  an 
able  and  eloquent  champion,  both  from  tho  pulpit  and  the  press, 
and  in  Ecclesiastical  Judicatories,  were  shaken  or  altered,  in  the 
smallest  degree,  until  the  day  of  his  death.  In  a  conversation 
with  him  a  year  or  two  before  his  decease,  the  name  of  Calvin 
having  been  mentioned,  by  which  one  of  his  grandchildren  is 


668  APPENDIX. 

called,  it  was  remarked,  that  many  men  of  the  modern  day  found 
fault  with  Calvin's  views  of  religious  truth  ;  when  his  counte- 
nance brightening,  he  promptly  replied,  "That  nothing  displeased 
him  more  than  to  hear  the  moderns  find  fault  with  Calvin's  views, 
who,  were  he  alive,  would  twist  them  around  his  finger."  And  in 
my  last  interview  with  him,  although  much  debilitated  in  body 
by  disease,  he  declared  that  Christ  was  the  sinner^s  only  hojie  :  and 
on  inquiring  whether  the  great  and  precious  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
which  he  had  preached  to  others,  were  not  now  his  support  and 
consolation  ?  his  reply  was  :  "  Indeed  I  think  they  are,"  and  thus  we 
parted.  The  interview  was  short,  as  it  was  with  difficulty  he  gave 
distinct  utterance  to  his  sentiments  and  feelings.  But  it  afforded 
me  renewed  occasion  of  gratitude  and  praise  to  God  ;  as  it  fully 
satisfied  me,  that  his  views  of  evangelical  truth  remained  un- 
changed to  the  end,  and  were  the  ground  of  his  hope  and  the 
source  of  his  comfort,  in  the  views  of  death  and  the  eternal 
world. 

Much  might  be  said  of  the  ability  and  wisdom  which  Dr.  Mason 
uniformly  displayed  in  a  deliberative  and  judicial  body  of  men. 
Having  been  a  co-presbyter  of  his  for  many  years,  and  often  a 
delegate  along  with  him  at  the  meetings  of  the  General  Synod,  I 
had  frequent  opportunities  of  witnessing  his  uncommon  skill  in 
the  transaction  of  judicial  business.  Cases  the  most  perplexing 
and  embarassing,  ho  unravelled  with  apparent  ease,  and  concen- 
trated and  united  jarring  views  and  opinions  with  admirable  ad- 
dress, and  that  without  any  sacrifice  of  principle  or  duty.  His 
grand  maxim  in  the  decision  of  judicial  cases,  was:  "Do  our 
duty,  and  leave  consequences  to  the  management  of  God." 

He  took  a  leading  and  active  agency  in  all  the  prominent  and 
most  important  measures  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  for  many  years  ;  and  I  know  that  some  of  the 
most  important  judicial  acts  and  testimonies  published  by  the 
Synod,  in  regard  to  particular  doctrines,  particularly  on  justifica- 
tion, were  drawn  up  by  his  pen,  and  in  my  judgment,  merit  a  place 
among  his  able  productions  on  theological  subjects. 

But  I  have  extended  my  remarks  beyond  the  limits  I  intended. 
If  these  hasty  remarks  be  of  any  service  in  preparing  a  memoir  of 
my  highly  valued  friend  and  brother  in  the  ministry,  his  biogra- 
pher can  make  what  use  of  them  he  may  judge  proper.  Had  I 
more  time  and  leisure,  much  more  might  be  added.  You  can,  at 
any  time,  apply  to  me  by  letter  for  any  information  I  may  be  in 


APPENDIX.  559 

possession  of,  in  relation  to  the  character  and  history  of  your  fa- 
ther, and  it  shall  be  willingly  given.  But  in  my  judgment,  time 
must  be  taken  to  prepare  a  proper  memoir  of  my  highly  valued 
friend,  such  as  his  character  and  memory  merit,  and  may  meet 
public  expectation.  In  such  a  work,  very  important  materials 
may  be  obtained  from  his  friends  and  correspondents  in  Europe. 
I  have  only  to  add  my  ardent  prayer  that  complete  success  may 
crown  your  proposed  undertaking,  and  that  it  may  be  blessed 
for  furthering  the  cause  of  truth  and  religion,  and  of  recommending 
them  to  the  generation  following.  My  aifectionate  regard  to  your 
widowed  mother,  and  all  the  members  of  the  highly  esteemed 
family  of  my  deceased  friend,  for  whose  spiritual  welfare  he  mani- 
fested such  a  deep  solicitude,  and  offered  up  so  many  fervent 
prayers  at  the  mercy  seat. 

Your  own  and  your  father's  friend, 

JOHN  McJIMSEY. 
To  the  Eev.  Ebenezeb  Mason,  New  York, 


\y 


i 


DATE  DUE 


